A Marines Life For Me
by Key and Lock
Summary: Hiro has always wanted to be a marine. Now that his dream has come true he must protect the good people in West Blue from all threats. No matter what the cost. OCs wanted. My first fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: A Fateful Encounter

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. I do own my OC Hiro Rolov.

When most people joined the Marines they expected a life full of adventure and rewards. They thought that they would sign up, fight a few pirates, and become a hero in a few months. Most of them had overly romantic ideas of what it was like to be a marine, and most were disappointed when they realized that their "dream job" mostly consisted of cleaning the decks of the ship they were on or running errands for their captains.

However Cadet Hiro Rolov was not like most people. Sure he craved adventure even more than the others, but he was willing to wait before going on a grand crusade. He knew that he needed more training before he was ready to save anyone. He also knew that the jobs he did were not appreciated and not very important but he still did them to the best of his abilities. Because he knew that everyone had to start low and that with enough effort he could be a great admiral some day.

At least that was what Captain Ozmont told him.

Hiro was busy scrubbing the deck when that same captain came up to him. He stood up and saluted him. "Good job cadet" Said Captain Ozmont as he observed his surroundings. "Why don't you take a break and get something to eat in the galley." "Thank you sir, but I should this finish first. Like you always say, never leave a job half done." Hiro replied. "Yes, but I also told you to never do a job on an empty stomach, so come on."

As they walked in the galley a fellow marine called out "Hey Hiro! Are you done yet? Remember I want to see my face on that deck." "Trust me Johnny I am doing you a favor by making sure you can't see it." Hiro replied. This caused every marine in the galley to laugh. That was one thing that Hiro loved about the marines. It was like being in a big, dysfunctional, some what violent, family.

Later that evening Hiro was on the deck practicing his swordsmanship. He loved training it kept his skills sharp and it was a great way to relieve stress. And Captain Ozmont was always telling "Practice makes perfect." Hiro was just finishing up when he saw something in the fading light. He went up to the railing to get a better look. He was shocked to see a figure holding on to a piece of what was once a ship. "Man over board!" He yelled as he leapt into the water. He swam to the figure and began to drag him to the life line that the marines threw down.

AN: I hate to leave off there but I can't go further because the stranger is not one of my characters. It is going to be one of the OCs submitted by the reviewers (if no one sends in an OC than I will make one up but I am hoping to avoid that.) Before you fill out the form I would like to ask you to _not_ change one of your pirate OCs into a marine because I will have pirate crew made of OCs. I am not saying that you can't change them; I just want you to know that I can use the pirates for later. There will be a separate form for the pirate crew later. Also since this is my first fanfic please feel free to point out any mistakes. Now onto the form.

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Race:

Physical Description:

Weapon/Devil Fruit/Special Attacks (devil fruit not required):

Personality:

History:

Specialty (Navigation, swordsmanship, doctor, etc.):

Friend or Foe (If your OC is a merc or bounty hunter they can be both):

Rank (If not a marine than job):

Likes:

Dislikes:

Dream/Goal:

Other:

Try to be as descriptive as you can. I hope you enjoy the story. Please review (and submit a character if you want.)


	2. Hiro's First Fight

Hiro's First Fight

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. Aaron belongs to wildroadrunner.

Hiro hauled the stranger aboard the ship. A small crowd had formed around the two. Everyone wanted to know what was going on. A stern looking old man began to push through the crowd. "Out of the way," he growled.

The old man, who was the ships doctor, began to inspect the unconscious young man. "Is he going to be all right?" Hiro asked as he tried to catch his breath. The doctor merely nodded as he continued his inspection.

"He'll be fine. He just needs some food and water," Hiro jumped slightly at the sound of his captain's voice. "That was very brave of to jump in and save him like that, Hiro," Ozmont said.

"Thank you sir but anyone would have done," Hiro replied. He was a little embarrassed by the compliment from his captain.

"Yes, but not many would have done it with their training weights still strapped to them," Ozmont said pointing to the weights around his arms and legs. This sent the marines into another fit of laughter. Hiro was just glad that Johnny was not there.

Aaron woke up with a headache. The last thing he remembered was his small ship being blown to bits by some pirates he was chasing. As he tried to gather his thoughts an old man in a marine's uniform walked in carrying a tray with food and water. "Oh, you are awake," he said as he handed him the tray.

Aaron accepted the tray gratefully. As he began to eat he took in his surroundings. He was on a marine's ship in a medical wing. He also realized that his weapons and clothes were not on him; instead he had on a spare marine's uniform "Where am I?" he asked.

"You're on board the _Judgment_," the doctor answered as he began to check his vitals. "You are very lucky young man, if Hiro was not on the deck practicing you could have drifted right past us," Aaron processed this new information before asking another question.

"Where are my things?" The sooner he got his things back the soonerhe could leave and finish his job.

"Eager to leave eh? Your clothes are drying and your weapons are in the armory. All of them except for your poisons which I locked away in my cabinet," Aaron winced when he mentioned the poisons. He hoped that he would be allowed to explain why he had them. "These are very potent and rare poisons, I would assume that only elite assassins would carry these," The doctor finished.

"I am not an assassin," Aaron said. "I am just a bounty hunter,"

"You are quite clearly not 'just' a bounty hunter. As I said only elite assassins would carry these, because your average bounty hunter is barely smart enough to open a door. I believe that you are a bounty hunter. But you are not like most,"

Hiro coughed to let Aaron and the doctor know that they had company. "Ah, Hiro, did you come to check up on our guest?" the doctor asked as looked up.

"Yes. I also wanted to give him these," he said as he handed Aaron his pistol and daggers back. "I can't stand not having my weapons, so I figured you might like yours back,"

Hiro watched as Aaron began examining his weapons. He was young, probably in his early twenties. He had short, spiky, light brown hair; he was also very fit and had a light tan. But the thing that struck him the most was his eyes. It was not that they a grayish blue, but that they had look in them. Like they had seen too many horrible things at too young an age.

"What's your name?" Hiro asked.

"Aaron," was all that he said. After a brief but awkward silence, Hiro turned to leave. "Hey kid," Hiro turned around to face Aaron. "Thanks for saving me," after that he went back to examining his weapons.

Two uneventful days passed by. Aaron found out that the crew was willing to take him to any island within reasonable distance. He just told them that the closest island with a port would be fine. They were currently headed toward Platt Island when the lookout spotted something. "Pirates!" he yelled.

That one word got the entire ship ready to fight in an instant. Captain Ozmont looked out at the approaching vessel. He knew that not all pirates were evil. He had even ran into Monkey D. Luffy, the Second Pirate King, and realized that he was better than some marines that he had met. But he could tell that these pirates were cold blooded killers. But he would be ready. He would defend his ship and his crew even if it cost him his life.

Hiro was excited. He had never been in a fight before. He wanted to prove himself to Captain Ozmont and the others. But he also knew that people would die, some of them would be his crew members and one could be him. He would be careful, but he would not let others fight for him.

Aaron was still recovering but that did not mean he was going to miss out on the action. He checked over his gear one last time, he had a bad feeling about this. Like no matter what he did this day was going to end bad. Well he was not going to let the pirates win. Not if he could help it.

The battle started quickly, only a few cannons had been fired before the marines boarded pirates' ship. However the pirates also boarded the marine's ship. What resulted was complete and utter chaos. Pirates and marines were everywhere fighting and dying.

Hiro was in the middle of it all. Even though he was the youngest marine on the _Judgment _he was also one of the most skilled with a blade. Whenever a pirate saw him and thought that he would easy prey they soon learned the hard way that that was not the case. Hiro had just finished disarming a pirate when another snuck up behind him with a dagger.

"Watch out!" Hiro spun around only to see Captain Ozmont standing there with a dead pirate at his feet. "Are you okay?" Captain Ozmont asked him. Hiro stared at the dagger in his captain's chest.

"I, I, I'm sorry sir, if I had been more careful-," he could not believe his carelessness had got his captain injured. "I'll go get help,"

"Don't worry about me; I've been injured worse than this before," Ozmont replied "Here take this," he handed Hiro his personal katana. It was beautifully made and Hiro knew that his captain never parted with it. Before he could protest Ozmont spoke again "Take it and defend your home and family, I will be fine now go!"

Hiro nodded and ran off. As he left three pirates saw the injured Ozmont and decided to finish him off. "So you cowards have to outnumber an injured opponent to win?" The pirates just smirked as they drew closer. "Well, you won't find me easy prey!" Ozmont then pulled the dagger from his chest. Even when he was injured he still looked like a fearsome marine captain, and the pirates began to doubt their odds against him. "Come on! I will show you why they call 'Wolf Fang' Ozmont!" With that he charged straight at the three unlucky pirates.

Aaron was surrounded. Not that this bothered him at all. The group of pirates all rushed at him at once. Aaron jumped up into the air, and then he took aim with his pistol and began to fire at the crowd of pirates below him. When he landed he drew his daggers and began to fight up close. He couldn't help but smirk as the pirates fell to the ground either dead or injured. He had become a bounty hunter for this reason, fighting criminals and injustice. He looked out at the seemingly endless number of pirates. "Well, time to get back to work," he said.

Hiro was fighting a pirate when he saw Guernsey, the ship's doctor, fighting for his life against four pirates. He saw another one sneak up behind the old doctor with a gun. Hiro finished off his opponent and ran to help him. "Guernsey!" he called. The old man turned too late as the pirate shot him.

Hiro quickened his pace but before he got their five shots rang out and five pirates dropped dead. He saw Aaron rush over to the injured Guernsey, and Hiro quickly joined him. The man coughed up blood as his eyes tried to focus on the two kneeling over him.

"I always said…I was to… ugh… old for …this," After that he closed his eyes and died.

Hiro was no longer excited by the fight. He looked over at the dead marines and realized that he knew each and everyone, and now he would never see them again. His eyes turned cold as he stood up. "I am going to make them regret the day they decide to become pirates," he said.

Aaron stood up and looked at him. "Listen Hiro I know what it's like to lose friends." He began.

Hiro cut him off "They aren't just my friends they're my family and these pirates are going to pay for their deaths," Saying he was angry would be an understatement, he was beyond furious.

Aaron recognized the look in his eyes _"It's the same look I had when those slavers took my family," _he thought. "Then what are we waiting for?" he said "lets go!" Hiro blinked in surprise, he did not think that Aaron would come with him but he was glad that he was coming. Then raced on ahead.

AN: I hope you liked this chapter. I will try to have the next one up as soon as I can. Also I still need OCs so feel free to submit one. One last thing, I am going to add a trivia section at the end of each chapter. It will have a random fact about the story such as ideas for the story that I changed or got rid of, or facts about the characters that I thought of but could not work into the story.

Trivia: Originally Guernsey was going to live but I felt that it was important for Hiro to witness a friend of his dieing, so that he would realize that he would lose friends in his journey. He thought that he understood this before the fight, but since he had never lost anyone close to him before he was not as prepared as he thought.


	3. A Bittersweet Victory

A Bittersweet Victory

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, the OCs belong to their creators.

Hiro and Aaron leap from the _Judgment _to the pirate ship. A group of pirates saw them land and rushed to intercept them. Aaron shot three of them before they got half way to him. While Aaron continued to fire at the oncoming pirates, Hiro rushed to meet them.

As Hiro began to clash blades with them, he noticed something was off. He had been able to defeat the pirates on the _Judgment _easily, but now he was struggling to block their attacks. At first he thought that they might have been elite pirates who protected the captain, but then he realized that his problem was that he was using two swords instead of just one. _"I never trained with two swords before. Looks like I'll have to drop one if I want to survive,"_

It didn't feel right to drop Captain Ozmont's sword, so he dropped his own marine issued sword. He instantly noticed the difference as he began to strike back at the pirates, the pirates, who hade grown confident while fighting the struggling marine, were caught completely off guard at his sudden offense and were quickly defeated.

Aaron fired several more shots into the swarm of pirates before he called out to Hiro. "This is getting annoying! We need to end this quick or we're done for!" He turned to fire at a couple of pirates who had cornered an injured marine.

"If you cut off a snake's head than the body will die," Hiro stated as parried a strike from a pirate. He defeated his opponent and turned to face another.

"So you plan on taking out the captain, eh?" Aaron said. "Well that works for me. Get goin, I'll keep the grunts off of you," Hiro looked at him, he was worried that pirates might take him down with sheer numbers, but he knew they had no choice. Hiro the saw captain, a giant of a man, watching the fight from the helm and ran to attack him.

Aaron saw a few marines trying to provide covering fire, while others were evacuating the wounded. He knew that they would not last long by themselves so he jumped between the charging pirates and the marines who were reloading their rifles. Aaron holstered his pistol, and drew his daggers and a small vial from his belt. He poured the contents of the vial onto the edge of his daggers and then rushed at the pirates.

The cuts he left on the pirates were so small that they barely felt them, but they did feel the poison as it raced through their bodies making them feel as if their insides had caught on fire. "You should get going," he told the marines as he prepared himself for another blitz attack.

"We can't we have a job to do," One of the marines replied. Aaron smirked slightly at the marines. He had to admit they were certainly brave.

"All right then, let's keep these goons busy while Hiro takes down their leader," Aaron said as rushed at the pirates. They gave a loud battle cry and followed him.

Meanwhile Hiro was face to face with the pirate captain. He wore a black shirt and pants, thick boots, and a pair of large boxing gloves. He had long red hair and a scar over his right eye. The giant grinned at Hiro "Is this the best the marines could send against me?" He asked.

"I can take you down easy!" Hiro boasted. But truthfully hi was nervous. This man was huge, and looked like an accomplished fighter. But Hiro knew that he had to take him down. If he failed then the others might not last long enough to get a chance to fight him.

The giant began to laugh. "Gwahahah, you do realize who are going up against right?" when Hiro gave him a blank look and shook his head 'no' the giant seemed annoyed. "I'm Grantz the Giant!" He yelled.

"Who?" Hiro asked. He knew all of the most infamous pirates in the West Blue and the name did not sound familiar. Instead of answering Grantz charged at him and punched. Hiro barely dodged in time, and when he looked back he saw that the spot where he had been was nothing but splinters.

Hiro took advantage of his opponent's back being exposed and rushed at him. Normally he would never think of attacking someone from behind but after all that Grantz and his crew had done Hiro was not going to show him any mercy. However just as Hiro's blade was about to strike Grantz, he turned around and blocked the sword with his glove.

Hiro tried to dodge the punch but he was not quick enough. He was sent flying backwards and crashed into the ship's railing. Hiro groaned as he sat up. _This guy is quick. I need to find a way to slow him down." _He thought as he got up. "All right now it's my turn!" Hiro yelled. As he ran towards Grantz he let his sword drag along the ships deck. By the time he reached Grantz the whole tip was biting into the wood. "Dragon's Fang!" Hiro yelled as he brought up his sword sending splinters into Grantz's face.

With Grantz momentarily blinded, Hiro leapt up and stuck at Grantz with his sword, leaving a long cut across his face. Grantz swatted Hiro away and began to back away. "Very few people can with stand one of punches, and even fewer can get a hit in on me. But you, you took two of punches and hit me. This fight might be worth my time,"

_I have got to end this now!" _Hiro thought. He charged at Grantz again and brought his sword down. "Dragon's Fang!" He shouted as he lifted his sword up, throwing more splinters at Grantz. But this time Grantz was ready. He blocked the splinters with one gloved hand and hit Hiro with the other.

Hiro coughed up blood. It wasn't much but he knew that he could not take another punch like that last one. _It's no use. He block my 'Dragon's Fang', and even if I can hit him it won't be enough to take him out. _Hiro began to look around for options then he spotted two things that could help him.

"Hey Tiny!" Hiro yelled "Follow me!" Hiro jumped down onto the main deck and ran towards his sword that he dropped earlier. Then he turned to face Grantz.

"If you think two swords are going to help you, then you are sorely mistaken," Grantz said. But Hiro did not listen he charged straight at him.

"Let's see how you like this Double Dragon's Fang!" Hiro yelled as he lifted both swords up, sending a wall of splinters at Grantz. Grantz had to block the attack with both of his hands. When he lowered his hands Hiro was nowhere in sight. Grantz quickly turned around only to see Hiro fire his pistol and shout "Dragon's Breath!" A large fireball shot out and slammed into Grantz's face.

When Grantz recovered he saw Hiro standing on a cannon. A cannon that was lit and facing him. Grantz never had a chance to dodge as the cannonball sent him flying out into the ocean.

Hiro fell down to his knees. That fight had taken its toll on him. When he looked up he saw several pirates approaching him. Hiro struggled to stand up, only to fall back down. But suddenly Aaron was there helping him up. "You did good kid. Now let us handle the rest," He looked over at the pirates. "You might want to surrender, after all we do outnumber you," The pirates turned to see that they were surrounded by marines. They instantly surrendered.

As Aaron helped Hiro back on board the _Judgment_ they saw an injured Johnny ran up to them. "Hiro! The captain wants to see you," He told them.

Hiro grinned "What does he want his word back already?" he asked. However the look on Johnny's face told him that this was serious.

"Captain Ozmont is hurt bad, and with Guernsey dead, they don't think he's going to make it," but Hiro was not there anymore. As son as he heard 'Captain Ozmont is hurt bad' he took off. Aaron and Johnny soon followed.

Hiro burst into the medical wing. One look told him that Captain Ozmont did not have a lot of time left to live. "Captain! I, I, I, This is all my fault if you didn't take that dagger for me,"

"That was my choice Hiro don't blame yourself. Even knowing that I am dieing does not make me regret it. I want all of you to listen. No matter what happens, I want all of you to do your best to protect the innocent. I want you to always do what is right no matter what others say. Even if it goes against a direct order, never let innocent people become victims. Remember orders aren't everything," Captain Ozmont paused for a second.

"Hiro, I want you to take my sword and use it to protect the innocent. It has been a honor serving with… all… of …you," And with that 'Wolf Fang Ozmont, skilled marine, respected captain, and father figure to Hiro died.

AN: Another tragic death. I hope you enjoyed this chapter; the next one will have Hiro deal with Ozmont's death, and introduce some new characters. Until then please review.

Trivia: Hiro was originally going to be called Alex. Coincidentally Alex and Hiro are the names of the main characters from Lunar 1 and Lunar 2 respectively.


	4. Reassignment

Reassignment

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. Layla belongs to PhoenioxofProcella, and Aaron belongs to wildroadrunner.

Hiro sat on the deck of the _Judgment. _It was late and no one else was up. Which was just fine for Hiro, he wanted to be left alone. He knew no one, not even Captain Ozmont himself, blamed him for the captain's death. But for some reason he could not see things their way.

"Couldn't sleep?" Aaron asked as he startled Hiro out of his thoughts. Aaron sat down next to him and looked up at the stars.

"Have you ever lost a family member?" Hiro asked. He saw Aaron stiffen at the question so he figured he had brought up a bad memory. "I 'm sorry," Hiro said quietly, as he went back to looking up at the darkened sky.

"Hiro, everyone has lost someone close to them. It's unfortunate, but it happens to everyone sooner or later. You can't bring someone back or keep them around forever, but you can keep their memory alive. All you need to do is honor your captain's last order to protect the innocent and become a great marine," Aaron said.

Wow," Hiro said "I never figured you would be so philosophical,"

"I'm full of surprises," Aaron replied. "So where are we going now?"

"Back to base we need to bury Captain Ozmont and the others," Hiro replied. He looked up at the sky. "Hey, Aaron, thanks for talking to me,"

"No problem. Now I've got to go get some rest. Good night Hiro,"

"Good night Aaron,"

It took a few days for the _Judgment to _reach the base, but by the timethey got there, nearly all of the admirals and captains were there to attend the funeral. Hiro was surprised that so many important marines came. He knew that Ozmont had been famous and was very well liked, but he never expected people like Vice-Admiral Garp to come.

Hiro was still wondering why so many high ranking marines were there when he bumped into Johnny.

"There you are Hiro! Listen I got to talk to you,"

What's the matter?" Hiro asked puzzled. Johnny was rarely serious, and when he was it usually met something bad had happened.

"We're being reassigned!" He yelled.

"What! Where are we going?" Hiro asked stunned.

"It's not just us. Everyone is going some where else. As a matter of fact no one is being assigned to the same ship as someone else. Something is not right about this; the only time they do something like that is when the crew's previous captain was corrupt and they want to undo any "brainwashing" that the captain may have done to them," Johnny said.

"What! But Captain Ozmont wasn't like that!" Hiro said angrily. No one would insult Ozmont and get away with it.

"I know, listen I have some friends who are god at getting private information. I want you to go meet your new captain, and when I find out something I will send you a message,"

Hiro was not thrilled about going to a new ship, but he knew he had no choice. He was walking down to the docks when he realized that he did not know which ship he had been assigned to. Just as he was about to go find Johnny and ask him, Aaron came up to him.

"Hiro, there's someone in the tavern looking for you," He told Hiro.

"Who is it?" Hiro asked. He wasn't familiar with very many people outside of his former crew, so he was curious to see who it was.

"I don't know I was looking to see if there were any bounty posters down there, when all of a sudden some lunatic in a dog mask bursts in through a wall and asks if any one has seen you.,"

"That sounds like Vice-Admiral Garp," Hiro said as he started to walk to the tavern.

"That guy is a vice-admiral?" Aaron asked as he followed Hiro. "He does seem to act like one,"

As they walked into the tavern they saw two people, a young woman in a marine's uniform and an older man also in a marine's uniform, arguing.

"How many times do you have to smash do I have to tell you, stop smashing down walls!" The girl shouted.

"And how many times do I have to tell you, don't talk back to your superiors, Layla!" the old man yelled back.

"We're the same rank Garp!" Layla yelled.

"Ahem. I hope we're not interrupting anything," Hiro said, as he and Aaron stood there staring at the two bickering marine's.

"Oh, sorry about that. I was just trying to explain to Garp here that you can't just go around smashing down walls for no reason," Layla explained.

"If you're so concerned about it why don't you fix it yourself?" Aaron asked.

"Bwahahahaha! Layla is the laziest marine ever. I wonder how you even became a Vice Admiral Ms. Lazy," Garp said.

"Well, considering your heritage, you should talk, Mr. Father-of-The-Most-Wanted-Man-In-The-World-&-Grandfather-to-a-Supernova. Cahahahah!" Layla laughed.

"Hey! You know as well as I do that after Luffy became Pirate King, the number of murders and raids caused by pirates decreased significantly," Garp said defensively.

"Really?" Aaron asked. "I would have figured that it would have increased with a new Pirate King,"

"If it were any one else it probably would have gone up. But Luffy never did like killing or hurting innocents, so he ordered the pirates to stop all unnecessary deaths. At first this didn't go over very well, but after Luffy and his crew put down some of the pirates who broke this law, they accepted it," Garp explained.

"But about three years ago, the pirates suddenly revolted against Luffy, they attempted to kill him, but not all pirates betrayed him and some helped him escape. Now they are forced to do hit and run attacks on the pirates who revolted," Hiro said.

"The last I heard Luffy was still King though," Aaron said.

"Technically that is true, but since the pirates don't acknowledge his rule, he has no real power over the others, so right now I guess you could say that there is no Pirate King," Layla said.

"How come I never heard any of this?" Aaron asked.

"Because the marines don't want to admit that there is such a thing as a good pirate," Garp said. "Any way I wanted to talk to you before you left,"

"What about?" Hiro asked he was still confused as to why two Vice Admirals wanted to talk to him

"Well, we know what the higher-ups are doing to Ozmont's crew, and it's just not right, Ozmont was a good man and now they are making him look like a traitor," Layla said angrily.

"You were friends with Captain Ozmont?" Hiro asked. He had never know that his captain was friends with such high ranking marines.

"Of course, normally I wouldn't even bother coming to funeral, even if was an Admiral, but Ozmont was an old friend so when I heard the news I came right over, it took me about five whole seconds," Layla said. When see saw the looks Hiro and Aaron gave see explained "I ate the Sumiyaka Sumiyaka no Mi (Speed Speed Fruit) so I can travel any where in the blink of an eye,"

She stopped talking for a moment to wake Garp, who had fallen asleep. He looked around confused for a second "Huh, where I'm I?" he asked.

Layla just sighed before answering "We're still in the tavern you senile fool,"

"I am not senile; I'm not old enough to be senile!" Garp shouted defensively.

"You're old enough to be my Great-Great-Great-Great-Great," Layla started before she was interrupted by Aaron.

"Did you want to see Hiro or not!" he shouted. He had more than enough of their bickering to last a life time.

"Oh, right. We just wanted to let you know that if you need anything just ask and we will do what ever we can to help," Garp said.

"Thank you sirs, I could use your help. Ya see I don't know which ship I've been assigned to," Hiro admitted embarrassed.

"You've been assigned to the _Pursuer _under the command of Captain Tol, he's strict but a good marine," Garp said.

"Can I ask you for a favor?" Aaron asked.

"Sure, what is it?" Layla asked.

"I want to go with Hiro and keep an eye on him," Aaron said.

"That is a good reason, but I get the feeling that you have another reason," Garp stated.

"I do want to go with Hiro, but you're right I do have another reason why I want to go. I am looking for someone, and I think being on a marine ship could help me find him," Aaron said.

"Alright, then you won't be an official marine but you will be stationed on the same ship as Hiro," Garp said.

"That works for me," Aaron said "come on Hiro let's go,"

"Thank you again" Hiro said as he saluted to the two Vice Admirals and followed Aaron to go down to the docks.

"Do you think we should have told them?" Layla asked, as she watched them walk down the street.

"No," Garp said "not yet, we need more proof before we can tell him,"

"More proof eh? That sounds like a lot of work," Layla said as she yawned. "I think I need a nap,"

"Bwahahahahah! You'll never get any in life if you keep," Garp couldn't finish because he had fallen asleep.

"Well good night you old geezer," Layla said as left the tavern. "And good luck Hiro, you're gonna need it,"

AN: Sorry this one is later than usual. I have been very busy. But I will try to get the next chapter up soon. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, until next time.


	5. A New Crew and a New Life

A New Crew and a New Life

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece Maia belongs to motordog and all other OCs belong to their creators.

"So this is the _Pursuer, _huh?" Aaron said as he looked up at the massive ship. "I got to admit, this is one impressive ship," Aaron looked over at Hiro who looked depressed. "Hey, Hiro something the matter?"

"It just feels weird, ya know. The _Judgment_ was my home, and everyone there was my family. This just doesn't feel right," Hiro sighed as he started to walk up the plank that connected the ship to the dock.

When he arrived on the deck he saw someone about his age standing by the mast. He had short dark black hair, and blue eyes and his marine uniform was in pristine condition. When he saw Hiro he walked over to him and saluted. "I am Ensign Eaton Quint. It is a pleasure to meet you Ensign Rolov," he said in an emotionless voice.

"Um, thanks but you don't need to salute me. We are the same rank after all," Hiro said a bit unnerved by Eaton's lack of emotion.

"I am aware of this but I thought I should show respect to the marine who defeated Grantz," Eaton replied.

"What's the big deal about that? I know he was a pirate captain but I know all of the big pirates in the West Blue, and I never heard of him," Hiro said.

Eaton looked at him for moment before he answered him "Grantz was a very famous pirate in the Grand Line, the fact that you defeated him by yourself is the reason you were promoted, or at least most of it,"

Before Hiro could reply a tall gaunt faced man in a marine captain's uniform and a sword that was nearly as tall as he was, approached him. Eaton and Hiro both saluted him.

"You must be Captain Tol, I'm Ensign Hiro Rolov," Hiro said.

"I know who you are; you defeated Grantz by yourself, very impressive. It would have been more impressive if you had done it without getting your previous captain killed," Tol said in a cold voice.

"That's out of line!" Aaron yelled angrily. He knew that Hiro felt guilty about Ozmont's death and he was not going to let someone blame him for it, not a captain or anyone else.

"You must be that bounty hunter that Layla mentioned. You may not be a marine but you are on my ship and you will obey my orders, understand?" Tol asked. "Now then one more thing. Hiro I want you to give me Captain Ozmont's sword,"

Hiro took a step back and placed a hand on the sword's hilt, there was no way he would hand over his sword. Before Tol could repeat his order Eaton spoke up "It will be given back to you once Captain Tol deems you are worthy of wielding it, I promise,"

Hiro looked down at the sword for a moment before handing it over. "Just take care of it," he said.

"Good," Tol said as he took the sword. "Now since both of you seem to have problems with taking orders and showing respect to your superiors I want both of you to scrub every inch of this ship, and take inventory of are supplies," with that Tol turned and left.

"I'll show respect to that guy when he earns it," Aaron said. "Well I guess that we should do as he says before he flips out again,"

"First let me show you where you will be sleeping," Eaton said as he went below deck.

"Thanks Eaton," Hiro said as he trudged down the steps behind him. He no longer sounded like his normal cheerful self.

"Don't let Captain Tol get to you. He is hard on all new recruits," Eaton said.

"He seemed to really take it hard on Hiro though," Aaron said "I mean he blamed him for Ozmont's death and took his sword from him, that was just wrong,"

"I'm right you know," Hiro said, still depressed.

"Captain Tol was a good friend of Captain Ozmont," Eaton said "he doesn't hate you; he just has high expectations of you," he stopped in front of a door. "This is the crew quarters; inside you will find some spare bunks for you. Good day, and good luck,"

After they put their belongings on some open bunks Hiro and Aaron started on the tasks that ther were assigned. Hiro did them with his usual determination, but not his usual enthusiasm. After they finished scrubbing the deck, Eaton came over to them with two trays of food.

"I thought that might want some food, since you missed dinner," he said as he set the trays down.

"Thanks Eaton, nice to know we have one friend here," Aaron said as he began to eat. Hiro nodded in agreement.

"You just need to get to know the others, why don't you come with me, I want to introduce you to a friend of mine," Eaton said.

Hiro and Aaron followed him to the medical wing. When they entered they saw a young woman with lavender hair cut in a pageboy style. She was dressed in a marine medic uniform and had a pair of round glasses over her pale grey eyes. She seemed so preoccupied with her duties that she did not notice the three enter.

" these are our new crew members Hiro and Aaron," Eaton said. Unfortunately when the young woman heard him speak she was so startled that she flung the tray of needles that she was holding up into the air.

Aaron moved quickly and pushed her out of the way of the falling needles, however he could not move quick enough to dodge them himself.

"Oh, are you alright!" Ms. Starling said. "Here let me help you with those" she then began to remove the needles very carefully.

"Is it just me or did she go from being a clumsy, jumpy, doctor, to a very skilled and focused doctor?" Hiro asked as he watched her work on Aaron.

"Yes, Ms. Starling is like that, she can seem a bit klutzy at times, but she is very kind and the best doctor in all of West Blue. Possibly even the best in all the Blues,"

"Is she really that good?" Hiro asked. He knew some extremely skilled doctors in the West Blue, and he had heard of other doctors that were quite talented.

"At age five she could, and did on several occasions, apply immediate and expert first-aid. When she applied to be a marine she failed most of the physical tests, however her knowledge on medicines, and treating wounds was so impressive that they allowed her to join any way," Eaton said. "Anymore questions?"

"Yes. Do you ever use emotion when you talk?" Hiro asked with a serious expression on his face.

Before Eaton could answer Ms. Starling finished removing the needles from Aaron. "There, all done. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Maia Starling, the ship's medic,"

"Well thanks for getting all of those needles out of me," Aaron said.

"Yes, well you got hurt helping me so it was the least I could do," Maia said cheerfully.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Hiro Rolov and the guy you just got done pulling needles out of is Aaron," Hiro said.

"It's a pleasure to meet both of you," Maia replied. "I hope you can forgive me that incident,"

"It was my fault. I should have knocked before I barged in," Eaton said.

"Let's not get concerned over whose fault it is," Hiro said. "After all it was an accident, right?"

"Correct." Eaton said. "If you will excuse me I need to deliver some files to Captain Tol. I will see you all tomorrow. Goodnight," With that he turned and left.

"Why does he need to take Tol's files to him? And more importantly what's with the whole no emotion thing?" Hiro asked.

"He's Captain Tol's personal assistant. He handles all documents, bounty posters, dossiers, reports, and everything in between. As for the lack of emotion, I do not know. He has always been like that. But he is very kind and honest," Maia explained.

"Maybe he can give a sneak peak at the bounty posters before they're distributed to the public," Aaron mused.

"He might, as long as they aren't major ones that the captain needs. But aren't you a marine?" Maia asked.

"No. I'm a bounty hunter. I just came along to keep an eye on the kid here," Aaron said.

"Oh. I guess I should have noticed. I mean the whole lack of a uniform should have been a dead give a way," Maia said.

"Well you two and stay down here and chat, but I'm going to go up on the deck for some practice," Hiro said, excusing himself.

It was quiet on the deck. The only sound was the waves hitting the side of the ship and the _swoosh_ of Hiro's sword cutting through the air. It was not Ozmont's old sword but it was a decent blade. Still he wished he had the sword in his possession even if he could not use it without the captain's permission. It reminded him of Ozmont and all of the lessons he taught him.

He spun, only for his blade to strike another. Hiro was surprised to see Eaton wielding a rifle with a bayonet attached, standing in front of him. He disengaged and looked at Eaton for a moment.

"Is something wrong?" Eaton asked as he assumed a defensive stance.

"No it's just, I didn't expect to see you here," Hiro said as he assumed an aggressive stance.

"Expect the unexpected. Isn't that what Ozmont always said?" Eaton asked as Hiro began to attack.

"Yeah, but how did you know that?" Hiro asked as he struck at Eaton only to be blocked.

"As I said before Captain Ozmont and Captain Tol were good friends. Ozmont would often come aboard to talk to Captain Tol. I usually served them their drinks so I heard a good portion of their conversations," Eaton said. He had to jump back to avoid Hiro's strike.

"Really? Hat did they talk about?" Hiro asked as he lunged forward, only for Eaton to side step the attack.

"You, mostly," Eaton answered as he tried to counter one of Hiro's blows only for his blade to parried.

However Hiro was to surprised to continue pressing the attack, so he backed off a bit. "Really?"

"Yes. Captain Ozmont had high hopes for you. He said that you were the next great admiral. Captain Tol agreed," Eaton said.

"You have got to be joking," Hiro said. Then he looked at Eaton's emotionless face. "Right, your not the joking type are you?"

"No, I am not." Eaton said. "That is why Captain Tol was being especially hard on you. He sees you as the last legacy of his friend Ozmont, and he wants to see both of your dreams come true,"

Hiro was silent for a moment. Then he rushed forward and stuck at Eaton, who barely blocked it. However his rifle was knocked from his hands and landed embedded into the deck.

"I won't let either of them down," Hiro said dead serious. "I will prove myself to be worthy to use Ozmont's sword and use it to protect the innocent. I promise,"

"I am sure that you will keep that promise," Eaton said smiling slightly.

"Oh, so you're not completely emotionless are you?" Hiro asked.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Eaton said going back to his previous emotionless mask.

"You fool me. I saw you grin," Hiro said.

"I think you are seeing things," Eaton said as he pulled his rifle from the deck and began to walk downstairs,"

"Hey Eaton, thanks for sparing with me," Hiro said. He looked up at the night sky. _I will honor your last wish Captain Ozmont. I will protect the innocent and punish the wicked. I promise._

AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I will try to have more action in the next chapter. Also if you have any ideas for the story you can submit them if you want to. I will be going back to school soon so updates might be slower, but I will try to update before schools starts and I will continue update throughout the school year.


	6. A New Mission

A New Mission.

Aaron was sitting up in the crow's nest, reading a bounty poster as the crew members' scurried around doing different tasks. It had been three weeks since he and Hiro had joined the _Pursuer's _crew. Things had not changed much, Tol still gave them as many tasks as they could perform in one day, and Aaron still disliked him.

At least Eaton had agreed to show him some bounty posters before they were show to the public. Most of them were small time bounties but two stood out. One of them was the one that he was currently reading. It was about one Belladonna Shooks, an infamous pirate captain who for some reason seemed to have abandoned her crew and was currently traveling by herself.

The other was about Yuri "The Reaper". An infamous assassin who had bounty on his head that rivaled some in the Grand Line. Which was strange since that was about the only place he had not been to.

As he was going over the details about Belladonna's devil fruit, Hiro climbed up into the crow's nest with him.

"So this is where you've been hiding," Hiro said as he sat down.

"I just don't want Tol finding out about the bounty posters," Aaron replied.

"Well he's looking for you now. I think we just received some new orders, but Tol isn't telling us what we're doing," Hiro said.

"I don't like not knowing what it is we're getting into," Aaron said as looked down at the deck. "Come on, we might as well see if someone knows what we're doing,"

Once they climbed down they saw Eaton giving directions to the helmsman. They walked up to him, but before they could ask him anything he stopped them.

"I have orders not to let anyone know our objective, until the briefing," he stated in his emotionless voice.

"Why? What's with all the secrecy?" Hiro asked.

"All I can say is that Captain Tol believes letting the crew know our objective to early could lower moral," Eaton said.

"Do you know what else lowers moral? Finding out that your next mission is so dangerous that your captain won't even tell you what it is," Aaron said.

Eaton sighed. "In other words you are threatening to tell the others what I told you," he said.

"Well, I wouldn't say threatening, but basically yes," Aaron replied.

Eaton looked around then motioned them to follow him. They went below deck and inside of a storage closet.

"Listen, what I am about to tell you is not to be discussed with the others. They are used to not knowing about our missions until the last moment," Eaton said.

"What kind of leader does that?" Aaron asked.

"A smart one," Eaton replied. "Captain Tol never tells the crew what they are going up against, even if it is something simple like a patrol, or going after some low threat level pirates. He does this so he does not have to tell the crew if they are taking on an important assignment,"

"Still should'nt they know what they are getting into?" Hiro asked.

"That is what most people think. But think of it this way. If Captain Tol told everyone that we were going on a suicide mission everyone, no matter how seasoned they are, would panic or become nervous to some degree. How ever he can not lie to his own people and tell them that everything would be alright, that would make them relax which could get them killed," Eaton explained.

"I think I understand," Hiro said. "Any way what are we doing exactly?"

"Have you heard of Fort Valiant?" Eaton asked.

"Isn't that the fort that was made to commemorate all the marines who died during the last big pirate rush?" Aaron asked.

"Correct. As you both know after Gol D. Roger was executed there was a large surge of pirates who wanted to become the next Pirate King. Some thought that killing was the best way to make a name for your self. So a lot of civilians and marines died. After Luffy became the Pirate King, and the death number dropped, Fort Valiant was created as a memorial to those who died and to show that the marines still power and influence despite their loses," Eaton said.

"So what's going on down there," Hiro asked.

"We don't know, they were supposed to send a report every week, however there has been no word from them," Eaton said.

"So maybe they just forgot," Aaron said.

"That is highly unlikely. They know their job, and there has never been an incident before. Besides a marine patrol ship was sent to investigate and they have not reported back," Eaton said.

Outside they heard the sound of many people running to stairs. Hiro, Aaron, and Eaton all looked out the door and saw the marines hurrying to get to the deck.

"We must have been closer then I thought," Eaton said. He hurried after the others with Hiro and Aaron right behind him.

When they arrived on the deck, Captain Tol was explaining the situation. After he told them the objective, to find out what caused the fort to go silent and what happened to the patrol ship, he began to explain the plan.

"We will split up into three groups, Eaton the map please," Eaton unrolled the map and spread it over a table that had been set up for the meeting. "The first squad will be under my command. We will go through the town and head straight for the fort which sits on this hill," Tol began to mark on the map to illustrate his plan.

"The second squad will be under Ramirez's command. They will go around the village and make their way to the fort from behind," Tol marked on the map again.

"The third squad will remain behind to protect the _Pursuer. _Any questions?" Tol asked. "No? Then I will assign you to your squads,"

In the end Hiro, Aaron, Eaton, Maia, and a few others were chosen to stay behind. While Maia didn't mind due to her lack of combat skills, and Eaton didn't seem to care, it was clear that everyone else was disappointed that they got the easy job. Hiro was especially disappointed because he wanted to prove to Captain Tol that he was a capable marine.

As they approached the island the look out called "Pirates!" Hiro froze for a split second. They had crossed paths with the occasional group of pirates since he had joined the _Pursuer's _crew. But that word always made him think of that battle on the _Judgment_.

Once he recovered he ran to get a better look at the pirate ship. However he noticed that it was docked, instead of coming at them.

"It's empty," Aaron said as looked out over the sea.

Hiro looked again and noticed that Aaron was right. No one was on the deck. "How do you know that their just not below deck?" Hiro asked.

"Because they would have someone standing watch. My guess is that they some how took over the town, and probably the fort and are holed up there," Aaron said.

"I agree," Hiro and Aaron turned around to see Captain Tol standing behind them. "Ramirez, I'm going to take a scouting party out first. When we return we'll break up into our squads,"

Tol looked out at his men before he pointed five of them, including Hiro and Aaron. "You five will come with me, stick close," they nodded and followed Tol into the town.

The group made they way into the town. It was eerily quiet. There was no one in the streets or in the stores, or anywhere. Suddenly Aaron made his way to the front where Tol was and whispered something to him. Tol nodded and ordered his men to stop.

"You might as well come out, we know your there," Tol said.

Pirates poured out of the buildings. There was roughly fifteen of them and they completely surrounded the smaller group. They began to press in but before they got very Tol called out.

"If you surrender now you won't have to die," he said.

The pirates laughed and one aimed his pistol at Tol's head. But before he could fire his weapon, Tol drew his sword and cut him down. The pirates were caught off guard and the marines took advantage of this.

Aaron had his pistol in one hand and a poisoned tipped dagger in another. He shot a pirate who was rushing a downed marine. Then he spun away from a pirate who lunged at him. Aaron struck at him with his dagger and the man collapsed as the poison took effect.

Hiro was striking left and right. His blade was a blur as he nimbly dodged their attacks, and slipped through their defenses. He blocked a poorly aimed blow and, with a flick of his wrist, disarmed his opponent. Then he flipped over one pirate to attack another who had pistol out ready to shoot a fellow marine in the back. The pirate noticed him and tried to retreat but Hiro cut off his escape route and hit him with the hilt of his sword knocking the man unconscious.

Tol easily dispatched his opponents. He swung his long sword around and cut down another pirate before turning to block an attack from behind. He ran the unfortunate pirate through with his sword.

Suddenly Tol's instincts told him that someone was behind him. He turned around as quickly as he could, but to late. He closed his eyes as he heard the gun shot but he felt no pain. He opened his eyes to see Hiro standing in front of him, with a bullet wound in his arm and a dead pirate at his feet.

"You're just like Ozmont," Tol said. As he went to examine Hiro's arm.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Hiro said as he grinned through the pain.

Aaron came up to them. "We got most but four of them managed to get away," one of the marines fired at the fleeing pirates and one of them fell. "Better make that three," Aaron said correcting himself.

"Alright then," Tol said. "Aaron come with me, the rest of you head back to the ship and tell the others to be prepared,"

"Sir. I would like to accompany you and Aaron," Hiro said.

"As admirable as that is I can not let an injured soldier fight," Tol said.

"With all due respect sir, Captain Ozmont told me to never quit till the job is done, and right now it's about three pirates away from being done," Hiro said with a determined looked on his face.

_He really is just like Ozmont. Same disregard for superiors and safety. He could almost be his son._ Tol thought "Alright come on then. But the rest of you go back to the ship,"

With that the group split up. Tol, Hiro, and Aaron chased after the three pirates. The pirates had a head start but they were not as fit as Tol and his men were and they soon caught up to them.

They cornered them in a alley. As they readied their weapons, Aaron noticed that pirates were trying not to grin. _Their pretending to be afraid._ "It's a trap!" he called out.

They turned around only to see the entrance cut off by a dozen pirates. "Well, then," Hiro said. "I did not see that coming,"

AN: School starts tomorrow so updates might be slower, but I will do my best. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please review.


	7. Impossible Odds

Impossible Odds

I forgot to mention that Belladonna Shooks belongs to Threedimensional.

Aaron knew that fighting on two fronts could be dangerous. Sure they could quickly dispatch the two they had chased into the ally, but while their backs were turned the enemies from the other side could attack. Even if only one or two of them tried to take out the ones from behind that left whoever else to fight the mob in front of them, which was something he did not like.

If they had a little more time then they could come up with a plan, but they didn't have any time left. Thinking quickly Aaron spun around to face the two pirates behind them. He fired his pistol at one and threw his dagger at the other. Both fell down and did not rise.

"Not bad," Tol said. "But did you have to completely disarm yourself?" he asked.

"What did you want me to do?" Aaron asked. "I only had one shot left, and I didn't have time to reload. Besides as long as I have my fists, I am never completely unarmed,"

"Well that's great Aaron," Hiro said. "But do you two mind giving me a hand here!"

Tol and Aaron looked up and realized Hiro was fighting all of the other pirates. ""I wondered why they didn't attack after I took out the others. Oh well better give Hiro a hand," With that they rushed in to save their comrade.

Hiro knocked aside a clumsy attack and punched the pirate in the face knocking him down. Then he spun around to block an attack from behind him. He pushed back and knocked the pirate off balance and struck him down. He jumped to the side when he saw a pirate taking aim at him and the bullet struck another pirate behind him. "That was a bit to close," Hiro said as he jumped at the pirate with the gun.

Aaron was weaving around the pirates, dodging their strikes and knocking them down all in the same motion. He jumped back to, dodging a pirate's sword, and then leapt at him and knocked him down with a powerful kick. _No matter how many I knock down, more just keep coming. We need to cut through them and fast._ "Hey Tol! We need to go through these guys now!" Aaron called out.

"Agreed," Tol said. He raised his sword and yelled out, "Tremor!" then he slammed his sword down causing shock waves to spread out knocking the pirates down. Aaron and Hiro had managed to jump up in time to avoid the shockwaves, and they took off with Tol when they landed.

"Well, we may have lost the element of surprise, but at least we took out some pirates. That must have put a dent into their numbers, right?" Hiro asked.

"I wouldn't count on that," Tol said as they rushed back to the ship.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Hiro asked confused.

"Didn't you notice that several of the pirates had different markings on them? Some pirates' wear tattoos or other markings to show which crew they belong to. I'd say that there were at least three different crews here, maybe even more," Tol said.

"But there was only one ship at the docks," Hiro said.

"That was probably just a decoy or maybe even an escape ship. I'd say that there are other ships hidden on this island somewhere," Aaron said.

"Most likely," Tol said. "This mission just got complicated,"

When they arrived at the _Pursuer _they saw everyone in their groups and ready to leave. Tol quickly sent the squads out, and left, leaving the defenders alone. Most of the defenders were young and looked inexperienced, but there were some who looked skilled or at least competent. Hiro looked over at the pirate's ship. It was further down at the other end of the dock, and still appeared undefended.

"Hey, do you guys think that we should disable their ship?" Hiro asked. Everyone turned to face him. "I mean it makes since, right? Once we beat them their going to make a run for it, so if we smash it up then they can't run,"

"We have our orders. We are to stay here and protect the _Pursuer,_" one of the older marines said.

"I'm not saying that we all go over there, but a few of us could sneak over there and take care of it," Hiro replied.

"Listen _Ensign," _the marine said, putting emphasis on the fact that he out ranked him. "You aren't in charge here so we aren't going," he said smugly.

"As I recall, Captain Tol left me in charge," Eaton said. His emotionless voice unnerved the marines.

"H-he only left you in charge because," the marine started but was cut off by Eaton voice which sounded still emotionless but had a noticeable icy tone to it.

"He left me in charge because he knows that he can trust me and he knows that I am capable of leading you all," Eaton said. "I agree with you Hiro. We need to dismantle that ship. You, Aaron, and I will go. Maia you will be in charge,"

The marine who spoke up before started to again but one look from Eaton made him reconsider.

"Um. Are you sure that you want me in charge?" Maia asked.

"Yes I trust you and I know that you will not do anything stupid. Unlike some people that I know," Eaton said looking at the loud mouthed marine. "Come on let us go,"

They left the ship and quietly made their way to the pirates' ship. They climbed up on the deck. "We need to take out the key parts of the ship. The sail, the rudder, the cannons, and anything else," Eaton said.

"Um, Eaton? We might have a problem," Hiro said as he pointed out at a nearby warehouse. Pirates were streaming out of it and coming towards them fast.

Eaton looked slightly nervous and given the fact that he rarely showed emotion at all Hiro and Aaron took this as a bad sign. "We need to come up with a plan," Eaton said.

"We don't have time for a plan," Hiro said. "I'll keep them busy, you guys start tearing this ship apart," Hiro rushed down the plank that connected the ship to the dock

"What is he doing? He's going to get himself killed," Eaton said. He tried to hurry after him but Aaron stopped him. "If we don't help him he'll die," Eaton said, his usual emotionless voice now sounded very worried.

"We have to destroy this ship first. After that we can help Hiro. Don't worry he can take care of himself," Aaron reassured him.

"Alright then, let's take care of this quickly," Eaton said. He took the bayonet off of his rifle and climbed up the mast. Once he reached the top he began to cut the sails to ribbons to prevent the pirates' escape.

Aaron went up to the helm where he began to remove the ship's wheel. Once he had it off he threw it into the sea. Then he started to load the cannons to fire at the ship's deck. While he worked he glanced up to see how Hiro was doing. All he could see was a mob of pirates, but they appeared to still be fighting, so he took that as a sign that Hiro was okay.

Meanwhile Hiro was fighting for his life. What the pirates lacked in skill they made up with sheer numbers. Hiro was constantly moving. He spun around blocking a blow from behind, and then he jumped to the side, a pirate's knife barely missing him. _I need some room if I want to live. _Hiro thought. He loaded one of his special "Dragon Shots" into his pistol and jumped up. "Dragon's Breath!" he yelled as he fired into the crowd.

The fireball that was shot out forced many of the pirates back, giving Hiro plenty of breathing room. Not all of the pirates were quick enough to dodge the fiery blast and several were badly burned. Hiro wasted no time and immediately launched an offensive.

Taking advantage of the stunned pirates, Hiro was able to cut down several of them before they recovered. The first one to recover was a thin man with long, dirty, blonde, hair. He grinned and called out to the others. "Let me handle this," immediately all of the pirates backed off forming a circle around the two.

"I fought all of you guys at once and you still couldn't take me down. Do you really want to fight me by yourself?" Hiro asked. He didn't say it mockingly, or like he was talking down to someone. He simply sounded curious.

"I fight better on my own," the pirate replied. He drew a deadly looking dagger and grinned again. "Here I come!" he shouted. He disappeared in a blur. Hiro spun around thinking that he would attack from behind. He caught a glimpse of him before he disappeared again. Before Hiro could turn around he felt the dagger cut across his back. He tried to catch him but he was too quick.

_He's toying with me_. Hiro realized. "You should have killed me," Hiro said. "Don't worry though, you want live long to regret your mistake,"

"Tough talk coming from a kid with a bleeding back," the pirate laughed.

_Now!_ Hiro thought. While the pirate was laughing Hiro rushed him and swung his sword at him. The pirate was caught off guard, but was able to get away with only a small cut to his face.

"I didn't think that marines took such cheap shots" the pirate growled, angered at being injured.

"We only take them when someone is dumb enough to let their guard down," Hiro replied.

The pirate growled again and rushed at Hiro. He disappeared again, but Hiro was careful this time. He jumped up hoping to see his opponent reappear. However he only appeared again when Hiro landed, and by then he was already behind him. He made another cut across Hiro's back, before retreating.

_He can't be moving fast. _Hiro thought. _I f he was he would have stopped and reappeared when he missed the first time. It just doesn't make since. Unless…_ "Is that all you got? If you keep messing around your going to get yourself killed," Hiro said goading his opponent.

His taunting had the desired effect. The pirate charged at him again. Hiro spun around as if he was going to block a strike from behind. But he kept spinning until he had made a complete circle. He held his blade up blocking a strike from the surprised pirate. "Close, but no cigar," Hiro said as he punched the pirate in the face knocking him down.

"H-H-How did you block my attack!" the pirate stammered shocked that anyone could figure out his strategy.

"I'll admit you had going there for awhile. I actually thought that you were moving that fast. Unfortunately for you I met someone who specialized in illusions just like you do," Hiro said "Once I realized that you couldn't possibly be moving that fast I figured that you had to be using illusions to trick me. Not bad actually,"

"It doesn't matter you still lose!" the pirate yelled.

Hiro tried to turn but he was to late a large pirate grabbed him from behind. Despite his struggles Hiro couldn't break free. "I thought that this was a one-on-one fight you coward!" he yelled.

The pirate ignored him and began to walk up to him slowly his dagger ready to finish the job. But before he could reach him he heard a voice come from behind him.

"The kid was right. You keep playing around and you'll die," That was the last thing the pirate heard before he felt the ice cold blade cut deep into his back.

Standing over the pirate's lifeless body was a tall figure dressed in a long black cloak with the hood up and holding a scythe. The pirates began to whisper amongst themselves. Hiro heard someone stammer "I-I-I-It's Yuri the Reaper,"

The figure stood still for awhile, just staring at all the pirates. Then he struck as quick as lightning. He was in the swarm of pirates slashing at all of them with his deadly scythe. At first the pirates tried to flee. When they realized that escape was futile they tried to fight back, which was just as ineffective.

The figure pressed a switch on the handle of his scythe. At the bottom of the scythe another blade, this one facing the opposite direction, popped out. "Death's Dance!" he called out. He began to spin his deadly weapon so fast that it became a blur, and then he spun around cutting down several pirates at once. His attack's name was very accurate. The way he jumped, spun, twisted, and turned, it looked very much like a lethal dance.

Hiro noticed that his captor had loosened his grip on him and he took advantage of it. He jumped up and wrapped his legs around the man's neck. Then he leaned back and did a handstand while he brought the pirate's head crashing down onto the ground. Hiro grabbed his sword and entered the fray.

Aaron and Eaton had seen the chaos that erupted after the cloaked figure arrived ad decided to postpone their destruction of the ship so that they could help their friend. Eaton stayed back and began to pick off pirates from a far, while Aaron coated his dagger in potent venom and engaged them up close.

The pirates had no chance against the four fearsome warriors and were soon cut down. Hiro surveyed the battlefield, he whistled when he realized that there were at least thirty dead pirates. He turned to the cloaked figure, "Thanks for your help. If you didn't come when you did I would probably just like those guys,"

The figure looked at him for a moment then said "You do know who I am don't you?"

"I think one of those guys could you Yuri the Reaper, the infamous assassin right?" Hiro said.

"Yes," Yuri replied. "So shouldn't you be trying to arrest me?"

"Well I can't speak for my friends, but you saved my life so there's no reason to fight you. I mean if you are willing to save a marine you can't be all bad, right?" Hiro said.

"I didn't do it just to save you. I think that you can help the people here, and you are of more use to them alive so I intervened," Yuri stated.

"Well if you did it to help the people here then that's just another reason to let you go," Hiro said. "What do you guys think?" he said turning to Aaron and Eaton.

"It would be illogical to fight an ally, especially one this powerful," Eaton said.

"By that you mean you don't think that we can take him right?" Aaron said. "Well you do have quite the bounty on your head, but it's not worth dieing over,"

"There you have it. Looks like we're in this together," Hiro said turning to face Yuri only to realize that he had disappeared. "Or not,"

Eaton began to head back to the pirates' ship. "We might be able to salvage some supplies from the ship before we destroy it. Aaron give me a hand, Hiro I want you to go help Captain Tol,"

"Are you sure you don't want my help?" Hiro asked. "Besides I think that Tol can take care of himself,"

"Normally I'd agree with you. But with all of these ambushes happening, I think that the captain can use all of the help he can get. We'll take care of the ship, just hurry up and help the others," Eaton said.

"Aye, aye captain," Hiro said giving a quick salute before he turned and ran off into the city.

AN: I am sorry that this chapter is so late. I had a case of writers block and then my internet messed up so it was delayed more then I originally thought it would be. I will try to the next chapter up soon. Please leave a review and if you have suggestions please do not hesitate to put them in the review or just PM me. Thanks for reading.


	8. Birth of the SRF

Birth of the S.R.F.

Hiro ran to the town square as fast as he could. He could here fighting in the distance, it sounded like a large battle. _I gotta hurry! _Hiro thought. He ran through an alley and came out in front of the town square.

Captain Tol and the others were surrounded by an army of pirates. They were fighting gallantly but were hopelessly outnumbered. _I need to think of something fast!_ Hiro thought. He looked around hoping to find something that would even the odds. He looked up at a nearby building and saw that a few pirates had moved a cannon onto the buildings roof.

Hiro climbed up the building next to him and jumped over to the building with the pirates. He acted quickly dispatching the two pirates who were in charge of the cannon with ease. Then he moved the cannon so that it was facing the building opposite of him. Inside of the building were several snipers who were taking out marines with deadly accuracy.

Hiro fired the first shot right at the snipers and hit them dead-on. This caused a lull in the battle below. The marines did not expect a cannon to be used in the fight and the pirates did not expect that their cannon would be used against them. However, the break from the battle did not last long; Tol recovered first and swung his massive sword, cutting down several pirates.

The fighting resumed but this time things were not so one sided. Thanks to Hiro the snipers could no longer take out marines, and some of the pirates now directed their fire towards Hiro trying to reclaim their lost cannon. While this helped ease the pressure on Tol and his men it did not help Hiro.

Hiro took several shots at the pirates below. "Why did I think that this was a good idea?" Hiro asked himself. At that time the pirates were trying to climb up the building to reach Hiro. "Alright then. If that's how you want to do it," Hiro said as he prepared to fight off the pirates.

The pirates swarmed the small roof and tried to overwhelm him. Hiro managed to dodge most of their attacks but there were too many of them. Then Hiro saw several barrels of gun powder that would have been used for the cannon. Hiro jumped from the building he was on to an adjacent one and yelled out "Dragon's Breath!"

The fireball hit the barrels and caused an explosion that cleared the roof of pirates. "Whew. That was close," Hiro said. Then a bullet grazed his head. He looked down and saw a pirate who was holding a smoking pistol and laughing. Hiro jumped down and landed on the pirate's head knocking him down. "What are you laughing at?" Hiro asked the unconscious figure.

"Less talking more fighting!" Tol called out as he blocked a pirate's sword. He pushed back and knocked the man off balance, letting Tol finish him off easily. He turned around and swung his sword at an approaching pirate and struck him down. "Why aren't you with the others protecting the ship?"

"Eaton thought that you could use some help. He figured that you might walk into an ambush," Hiro said as stabbed a pirate who was rushing at him. "Looks like he was right,"

"Enough!" a voice called out. Immediately everyone stopped fighting and looked up to see who had spoken. Standing on top of one of the buildings was a large man in his forties. He wore a white sleeveless shirt, black pants, and black boots, he was bald and a large scar going over his right eye.

"Attention all Tombstone Pirates, we are leaving now! So gather your supplies and let's go," as soon as he said this all of the pirates who were wearing black outfits with grey tombstones on them began to leave the town square.

Another figure, this one a tall slim young man with red hair and a blood red outfit appeared next to him. "What do you think you are doing Tazon? We're winning we don't need to leave,"

"I agreed to this coalition because I thought that it would help keep my men safe. But here we are risking everything to raid a village for no reason except to kill everyone we can. Surely you can't enjoy this Red," the large man named Tazon said.

"True, I don't enjoy killing. But this fight is **AWESOME!**" the young man said. "Come on Tazon you're the leader of the Tombstone Pirates, don't tell me you're afraid of getting your hands dirty,"

"I don't mind fighting people if they can fight back. I may be a pirate and a thief, but I'm no murder. If you want to stay here and kill all of the civilians in the fort fine, but I won't take part in it," Tazon said.

Red considered what he said. "Hmmm. You have a good point. I like fighting as much as the next guy. Okay more then the next guy, but if your opponent can't fight back then it's no fun. Alright Crimsons, finish off these marines then were heading out," Red then turned to leave.

Hiro knew that he could save a lot of marines but only if he acted quickly and his plan worked. "Hey hold on a second,"

Red stopped and turned around. "Are you talking to me?" he asked.

"Yes. I have a deal for you. You and me fight one-on-one. I win and you and your men have to leave without harming anymore marines," Hiro said.

"Hmmm. That sounds fun. I just hope you can put up a fight!" Red said excitedly.

"Um. Don't you want something if you win? I mean isn't that how these things usually go?" Hiro asked, somewhat confused.

"How should I know? Besides all I want is a good fight, so if you're good then I'll get what I want no matter what,"

With that said Red jumped down and drew a cutlass. "Let's start!" he said. He rushed at Hiro and brought sword down diagonally. Hiro brought his sword up to block the blade and they began to push against each other.

Then Hiro jumped back suddenly causing Red to stumble forward. Hiro took advantage of this and lunged at him, but Red was quick and was able to throw himself to the side, although he did receive a small cut on his side.

"Not bad. Now let's see how well you can dodge!" Red said. He reached into his jacket and pulled out several bombs that he began to throw at Hiro. Hiro had to jump to the side to avoid the initial barrage. As he got up he noticed Red was preparing several more bombs.

_I need to get in close if I want to survive._ Hiro thought. He started running straight towards Red. Red noticed this and threw his bombs at him. But Hiro anticipated this. He drew his pistol and shot one of the bombs. The resulting explosion blinded Red for a bit. When Red opened his eyes Hiro was no where to be seen.

"Where did he go?" Red asked looking around. Just then he noticed a shadow come over him. When he looked up Hiro kicked him in the face knocking back. When Red got back up he grinned at Hiro. "This is definitely the best fight I've had in a while,"

"And it's the last fight your gonna have," A voice called out a dart struck Hiro in the side of his neck and he fell to his knees. A tall woman with long black hair and a purple cloak walked into the town square. "I don't like to be double crossed," she said glaring at Tazon and Red.

"And we don't like massacring innocents for your sick pleasure, Iona!" Tazon said.

"Oh get a back bone Tazon. What do you think being a pirate is about?" Iona asked. "It's about taking what you want, whatever you want, whenever you want, and however you want to take it,"

"Y-y-you're wrong," Hiro said struggling to his feet. "It's about freedom, following your dreams, and having an adventure,"

"So now the marine is going to tell me what it means to be a pirate? Now that's rich," Iona said.

"You now what it is funny," Red said. "It's funny that your so blinded by greed that you just don't understand what being a pirate is all about. Funny and pathetic," he said as he rushed at Iona.

Iona anticipated this, however, and blocked his attack with a long rapier that she drew from her cloak. She quickly disarmed him but before she could continue her attack, Tazon swung a large ax at her.

"I don't have time for this," Iona said as she threw a vial at the two pirates. The glass container shattered and the liquid instantly turned into a gas. Both of them began to cough.

"I-I- I can't move," Tazon said.

"Me neither," Red said.

Iona walked up to the two immobilized men. "It was a pleasure doing business both of you. But you know what they say, all good things must come to an end," She raised her sword up and prepared to kill Tazon, but she was a caught off guard by a sudden attack.

"Dragon's Fang!" the sharp rock fragments stung Iona's face and delayed her attack. She saw Hiro shakily stand up. "I'm not going to let you hurt them," Hiro said his voice as cold as ice.

"Well this just gets better and better. Now the marine is actually helping pirates," Iona said. But inside her head she thought._ How is this possible? That poison dart I shot him with should have put him down for good!_

Hiro growled at her. Something in side of him, something primal was taking over. His vision took n a reddish tinge. With a sudden yell he charged at Iona. Iona tried to block his furious assault, but his attacks were too quick, too random. In an instant Iona was on her back staring up at Hiro feeling an emotion that she had never felt before. Fear.

"It's over Hiro just relax," Hiro turned around to see Captain Tol and the marines standing behind him. He gave a small grin and collapsed. Tol caught him before he hit the ground. _What happened to him back there? For a moment I thought that… Ozmont you didn't. Did you?_ Tol thought.

Hiro woke up in the _Pursuer's_ infirmary. He started to get up when Maia walked in. "Oh, Hiro you're awake. I'm so relieved we were worried about you,"

"Ugh. What happened?" Hiro asked. His head throbbed and he felt very tired.

Apparently that pirate women, Iona, shot you with a poison dart. You were unconscious for three days. I thought that you might not wake up,"

"What about the civilians and the other pirates?" Hiro asked.

"The civilians that survived the initial attack took refuge in the fort with the marines. Some of the pirates almost broke into the fort, but thanks to Ramirez's men and someone named Yuri they were able to drive them off."

"As for the pirates. Thanks to you Aaron and Eaton were able to destroy the pirate's ship so they couldn't get away. Also we were able to capture the three pirate captains. Although from what I heard two of them simply surrendered. I guess they found out about their ship and thought that it was over," Maia said.

_There were way to many pirates to fit on one ship. They must have others hidden somewhere. So why give up? _Hiro thought.

"Oh by the way Hiro captain Tol wants to see you and I'm sure Aaron and Eaton would like to know that you're better," Maia said.

"Thanks Maia," Hiro said. He got dressed and went out to go find Captain Tol. As he left he heard a voice call out.

"Well look who it is. The big hero, Hiro finally wakes up," Aaron said grinning at him. "You gave us quite the scare, Eaton was freaking out the whole time you were knocked out,"

"I was simply concerned for my ship mate," Eaton said. "Am I not allowed to be worried about one of my friends?"

"Hey you said we were friends!" Hiro said. "If you keep hanging out with us you might just learn how to smile eventually,"

"Well as much fun as this is, Captain Tol wants to see you," Eaton said.

"Right, right I'm going. See you guys later," Hiro said. Then he walked into Tol's office.

"It is good to see that you recovered Hiro," Tol said. "I would hate to have lost such a fine young marine such as yourself,"

Um, thank you sir?" Hiro wasn't quite sure how to respond. Tol had never said anything so positive about him before.

"Listen Hiro I know I've been hard on you. But I have my reasons. You see before Captain Ozmont died, he recommended you for an experimental task force. The S.R.F,"

"The S.R.F? I don't think I've ever heard of them before. Are they some kind of black ops group?" Hiro asked.

Tol shook his head. "Quite the opposite actually the S.R.F. is a highly skilled group of elite individuals, but they are meant to be known, so the people know that they have a guardian angel watching out for them," Tol explained.

"Then how come I've never heard of them?" Hiro asked. He just about everything when it came to information about the marines.

"Probably because it hasn't been formed yet. You were going to be the first," Tol said.

"I was going to be one of the first marines on this team," Hiro was shocked he had no idea that Captain Ozmont had thought that highly of him.

"You weren't listening were you? I said the first, not one of the first. You were, no you are going to lead this squad," Tol said.

"What! B-b-b-but I'm just an ensign. I can't lead an elite squad!" Hiro said.

"Really? Cause from what I heard from Ozmont, and from what I saw myself, think that you are going to be a fine leader. Now then when we reach the next island you will leave, and be supplied a new ship and given your first assignment," Tol said.

Um, thank you sir. But who else is on this squad?" Hiro asked. He hated the thought of joining another crew.

"Whoever you want. You have the authority to conscript anyone who you deem would be an asset to the team. You can even take marines from other captains," Tol said.

Hiro thought that he added that last part intentionally. "In that case sir. I would like to request that Ensign Eaton, Aaron the bounty hunter, and Doctor Maia join my crew," Hiro said.

"I had a feeling you would. I'm going to miss Eaton and Maia, but I'm glad that you're taking that bounty hunter with you. I can't stand people who don't follow orders," Tol said.

"Thank you sir," Hiro said as he turned to leave. "Oh, by the way what does S.R.F. stand for sir?" Hiro asked.

"The Special Response Force,"

AN: Kind of an odd place to stop but it's been a long day. Anyway this is where the main story starts. I hope you liked this chapter. The next one is going to be a little different and hopefully it will but up in about a week. So please leave a review, which reminds me anonymous reviews are allowed in case you don't know.


	9. Investigating

Investigating

I'm shifting the focus of the story from Hiro to Layla and Garp. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. "Blood Baron" Van Saren belongs to Nezumimaru.

"Why are we here again?" Layla asked for the tenth time.

"We're here because I have a friend who might be able to help us," Garp said, slightly annoyed that his partner would not stop asking him the same question. Although they both knew it was just to get on his nerves.

They were walking through the slums of a large town. Everywhere they looked they saw shabby buildings, people begging for food or money, and thieves trying to steal what little there was. It was a saddening sight, one that made both Vice-admirals feel sorry that the World Government allowed such pitiful conditions. Sure it wasn't possible to fix everything but they could at least try to make things better for these poor people.

"So where does your friend live?" Layla asked trying to take her mind off of the unfortunate people who had to live here.

"Right here," Garp said. they were standing in front of what could have been the worst house she had seen, even in the slums. Besides the usual disrepair that was common in the slums, this building had several spots where the front wall had been destroyed and had a few boards of wood nailed over them.

"Gee, I wonder how those holes got there." Layla said sarcastically as looked over at Garp.

"It is a mystery," Garp said. "Oh well I guess we better knock," Garp walked up to the wall and prepared to smash through the already weakened wall.

"Garp if you knock one more hole in my house, I will knock you into next week," a voice behind them said.

They both turned around and saw a young man in his early twenties. He wore a tan shirt, grey pants, black shoes, and a long trench coat. He had green eyes, short, sandy blond hair and was smoking a cigarette that seemed to hang loosely in his mouth. The two most distinguishing features about him were the large mace that was nearly as tall as he was he was that he had strapped to his back, and the fact that he was missing his right arm.

"Kaj! It's good to see you again. Did ya miss me?" Garp asked grinning like fool.

"I'm still making repairs from your last visit and I'm pretty sure I said that if you even came back here I would beat you with in an inch of your life. So to answer your question, no, I didn't miss you," Kaj said calmly.

"Well if you came back I guess it means it's important. Come on in," he said as he unlocked his door and let the to marines inside.

Layla was surprised that the inside of the of the building was the opposite of the outside. Everything was neat and orderly, which she thought would have been impossible before she saw it. It was hard to believe that the outside looked so different from the inside. Layla was brought out of musings when Kaj spoke up.

"Tea or sake?" he asked. Garp started to speak up but Kaj cut him off. "Tea it is," then he went into the kitchen to fix the drinks.

"Um. Do you want some help?" Layla asked. she normally did not volunteer for more work. In fact she rarely did the work that she was supposed to do, but she thought given the circumstances she should at least offer to help.

Kaj just grinned. "Thanks, but no thanks. I've lived for several years without a right arm so I think I'll manage,"

"Sorry," Layla said. she hadn't meant to offend him.

"No problem. Actually you're a lot better then some people. Most just stare at me or think that I'd be an easy target,"

"But you prove them wrong don't you?" Garp asked laughing.

"So what brings you here anyway Garp? It's been what two, three years since your last visit," Kaj said.

Garp suddenly grew serious. "Oh boy. The last time you looked like that you wanted me to find out who hired Yuri 'the Reaper' to kill your grandson," Kaj said.

Layla gave Garp a look that seemed to say _You did what? "_He's my grandson, of course I was concerned!" Garp said defensively.

"I never would have guessed you'd be a big softie. Cahahahaha," Layla laughed

"Just because you don't have a heart doesn't mean we're all like that. And don't talk to your elders like that!" Garp said.

"Or what? You'll send me to bed with no supper gramps," Layla said.

"Ahem. I believe you two wanted to talk to me about something important. So if you don't mind," Kaj said.

"Oh right. We wanted to know if you know anything about," Garp paused for a moment. "That person,"

"You know Garp, the thing I love about you the most is how you're so specific. You're not vague like everyone else," Kaj said sarcastically as he blew some smoke from his cigarette.

"You know who I mean! The one pulling the stings, the person who supplied the pirates who rebelled against my grandson with their supplies. The one who lead them against Luffy and his allies," Garp said angrily.

"Ah, now that was a bit more specific. I know," Kaj paused to take another drag on his cigarette. "absolutely nothing," he finished.

Garp fell out of seat, but quickly recovered. "What do you mean you don't know anything? You're the guy that's supposed to know everything! I can't believe I actually wasted my time coming here! I mean I come all the way out here just to find out that you don't know any," Garp suddenly fell asleep ending his angry rant.

Kaj rubbed his forehead, as if trying to relieve himself of a headache. "It's about time that geezer fell asleep," he said.

"So you don't know anything at all?" Layla asked.

"I don't know for sure, but if I had to take a guess I'd say Van Saren," Kaj said

"As in 'Blood Baron' Van Saren?" Layla asked.

"That'd be the one. He's got a hand in all illegal activities. From smuggling to assassination and blackmail to slave trading. Rumor has it he has his eyes set on the World Government too," Kaj said. "If he isn't behind it, then he might at least know who is,"

"Then we need to find this guy and," Before Layla could finish several men dressed in black busted in through the front wall.

Several of them drew pistols and took aim but Layla was there in an instant. She grabbed one man's arm and flipped him on his back. Then she knocked the gun out of another's hand and kicked him in the face knocking him down. Before he had even hit the ground Layla grabbed the arm of the third and final gunmen and twisted his arm around, then she head butted him knocking him out.

She glanced over to see one of the assassins was heading towards a still sleeping Garp. However, as soon as he reached him Garp woke up and punched him through one of the holes they made when they entered. "Is that the best you can do?" Garp asked as he joined in the fray.

Layla then looked over to see Kaj surrounded by six of the mysterious figures. She started to run over to help him but another one intercepted her. She blocked his strike easily and knocked him out with a blow to the head. When she looked back at Kaj she was startled at what she saw.

The six assassins all leapt at him, but he drew his large mace and spun around in a circle hitting all of them. They all fell to the floor and did not get up. "I hate unexpected guests," Kaj said. as he swung his mace at another one of the attackers.

"You always did attract some strange people," Garp said as he knocked out another enemy.

"I figure that's why I met you," Kaj replied as he ducked under his opponent's sword.

"Hey! Insulting Garp is my job," Layla said.

Before long all of the attackers had been subdued. Kaj looked out one of the numerous holes in his house. "Looks like we missed one," he said. Layla and Garp walked up next to him to see who it is.

"W-wait. That can't be right. That looks like Grantz the Giant," Layla said. "I thought he was dead,"

"Well it looks like he survived his encounter with Hiro," Garp said. "Maybe we should find out what he knows," Garp said.

"Leave that to me," Kaj said as he walked outside. He walked right up to Grantz. "I'm going to get straight to the point. I need to know who sent you and your goons. You tell me and I won't beat you into unconsciousness," Kaj said as he looked up at the taller man.

"Gwahahaha! You think that I'd actually tell you who sent me? I don't know what's funnier, that or the fact that you think you can beat me," Grantz began to laugh again.

"Tremor!" Kaj called out as he slammed his mace into the ground causing a shockwave to strike Grantz and knock him off his feet. "I was trying to be nice but now I'm serious. You broke my three cardinal rules: One you do not put a hole in my house. Two you do not attack my guests. And three you do not attack me. Now since this is your first offence I'm willing to over look the second and third rules. But nobody breaks a hole in my house and gets away with it!"

"Wow. How many times did you break into his house Garp?" Layla asked looking over at the older marine.

"I don't know, I lost count," Garp replied.

"So more then ten times," Layla said jokingly.

"Very funny. You know when I was your age we respected our elders," Garp said.

"When you were my age I bet you hunted dinosaurs. Cahahahahah!"

Meanwhile Grantz was finding out the hard way that Kaj was no pushover. All over his attacks were to slow to hit the agile warrior. Then he suddenly stomped on the ground. The whole ground rumbled and Kaj nearly lost his balance.

While he was regaining his balance Grantz his ultimate attack. "Hammer Fist!" his attack caught Kaj off guard and sent him flying backwards. Layla was at his side in a second. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Just fine. To bad Tiny over there can say the same," Kaj said as he nodded towards Grantz. As he nodded towards him the giant collapsed.

"Huh? How did you do that?" Layla asked. then she noticed that Kaj's mace was lying next to the unconscious man.

"When he punched me I threw my mace at him. I figured he wouldn't be able to dodge it so soon after his attack. Looks like I was right," Kaj said. "Now let's go back in and finish our discussion,"

"I'll get the door!" Garp said as he punched another hole in the wall. This caused the whole front of the house collapse. "Oops," Garp said.

"GARP!" Kaj yelled as he chased after him.

"Oh brother," Layla said. "I might as well take a nap until they're done,"

A few hours later Kaj was talking to the two vice-admirals in the ruins of his house. "I think I might know a way to attract Van Saren to us," he told them.

"To us?" Garp said. "You mean you're coming with us,"

"Yeah. If you go and get yourselves killed them whose going to pay for my house. Besides I need to get out and do something," Kaj said.

"Well it's great to have you with us Kaj. When do we leave?" Layla asked.

It'll take about a week to get everything ready," Kaj said.

"A week! Why can't we go now?" Garp asked.

"Because I need to get everything ready. I need to forage documents, leak information, get a ship, and get some supplies ready," Kaj explained as he extinguished his cigarette.

"We have a ship and supplies though, why do we need new ones?" Layla asked.

"Because we need different supplies and a less conspicuous ship," Kaj said. "Trust me. I know what I'm doing. You guys get some rest and I'll get started in the morning,"

And with that Garp and Layla's investigation began.

AN: I hope you liked this chapter. I wanted to focus on some new characters and this side story will help me introduce them. Don't worry though the next chapter will be about Hiro and the others. Please leave a review.


	10. The SRF's First Mission

The S.R.F's First Mission.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece Zyd belongs to Mavrik Zero.

Hiro looked around the at the town that the _Pursuer _was currently docked at. It was a large bustling seaport. _So this is where it really begins. _Hiro thought. He was still thinking about his sudden promotion when Captain Tol walked up to him.

"Hiro. I wanted to give you something before you left," Tol said as he held out a long case.

"Thank you sir. But you didn't have to," Hiro said. He wasn't used to receiving gifts, especially ones from people like Tol who didn't seem like the gift giving type.

"Yes I did. Believe me this is long over due," Tol said.

Hiro opened the case to reveal Captain Ozmont's sword. "I-I-I. Thank you sir," Hiro said giving the captain a salute.

"You earned it. Oh by the way I pulled some strings and got you a new crew member. He should be by your new ship. Farewell Hiro," With that Tol went aboard his ship and the _Pursuer _sailed away.

"Well I better go meet my new crewmate," Hiro said as he walked down the dock looking for his ship.

"Hey!" A voice called out. A young man with spiky red hair ran up to him. he was wearing long dark brown pants with a belt, a sarashi, sandals and red sunglasses. He also wore his marine jacket like a cape and had a hilt less Nodachi. "I'm Lieutenant Third Grade Zydrunas Verginus. But you can call me Zyd,"

"Nice to meet you Lieutenant Zyd. I'm Hiro Rolov; I take it that you're my new crewmember," Hiro said as he shook hands with Zyd.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. I've heard great things about you. I believe that I will be able to accomplish my dream in our journeys. Together we will defeat all villains who dare cross our path and fulfill our destinies. Not only will we…"

"Excuse me Lieutenant Verginus, but we have our first assignment," Eaton said interrupting Zyd's speech.

"All ready? That was fast. Anyway Zyd, this is Eaton, or as I like to call him Mr. Emotionless. He's my secretary," Hiro said.

"I prefer to be called a personal assistant," Eaton said. "Anyway there are some bandits hold up in the nearby mountains. They have been harassing the locals lately and the marines stationed here have not been successful in their attempts to drive them out," Eaton explained.

"Alright then," Hiro said. "Go get Aaron and Maia. Zyd and I will go scout out their hideout,"

"But you don't even know where that is," Eaton said.

"No, but I doubt that bringing the rest of you will change that. We'll just look around and see if we can find it find while we wait for you guys to come," Hiro said.

"Okay. But try not to get yourself into too much trouble before we come," Eaton said. Then he turned and walked off to find the others.

"Let's go find those pirates!" Hiro said as hr turned to Zyd.

"Alright! A good fight is a grate way to start an adventure," Zyd said excitedly. Then he ran off towards the mountains.

"Hey! Wait up," Hiro said as he ran after his eager crewmate.

When Hiro caught up with Zyd he was hiding behind a cluster of rocks over looking a cave entrance. Outside were three guards. "How did you find them so quickly?" Hiro asked.

"I knew where they were hiding all along," Zyd said.

"What!" Hiro whispered sharply. "Why didn't you tell the other marines?"

"I tried to tell them. But they said it was too risky to attack them head-on when they have the territorial advantage," Zyd explained.

"Well I guess there's nothing to do now but wait for Eaton and the others," Hiro said as he crouched down lower.

"Sure there is. We can go down there and take out those guards," Zyd said.

"I know we have the element of surprise but don't you think that the fact that they outnumber us is going to put us at a slight disadvantage?" Hiro asked.

"But there's only three down there, that's not even a real work out," Zyd said.

"I mean the ones inside the cave," Hiro explained.

"I wouldn't worry about that. Most are probably on scouting duty or forming a raiding party. So there should only be a few guards," Zyd explained.

Hiro considered this for a moment before he made up is mind. "Okay. We'll take these guys out, but we need to do it quick. If they are forming a raiding party then we need to go back to the village to help," he said.

As soon as he said this Zyd jumped down and drew his hilt less Nodachi. "Demon Fang!" he yelled as he released a cutting shockwave on the ground from his sword. The shockwave slammed into one of the bandits and knocked him into the cave. One of the others tried to slash at him with his cutlass but Zyd blocked it easily and then slashed him with his large sword.

The third pirate took aim with his pistol and prepared to fire at him. However, before he could shoot he collapsed. Standing over him was Hiro with his sword drawn. "Well that was easy, I guess you were right there was only a few," Hiro said.

"Actually I think I was wrong," Zyd said pointing behind Hiro.

Hiro turned around to see a large number of pirates with their weapons drawn. "Aw, come on!" Hiro said as he dropped into a defensive stance.

Meanwhile Eaton, Aaron, and Maia were walking across a narrow path that lead up the mountain. They walked in silence for a while before Maia spoke up.

"Um. Why did Hiro want me to come along? I can't fight," she said nervously. She stumbled and nearly fell off the edge but Aaron caught her.

"You may not be able to fight but you are very good at patching people up and we may not have time to bring someone all the way down the mountains to be treated," Eaton said.

Before anything else could be said several shots rang out and the bullets struck the ground behind them. Aaron immediately moved Maia in between himself and Eaton. Then he drew his pistol and returned fire at the incoming bandits.

"Get moving you two. I'll keep these guys busy, just go find Hiro," Aaron said as more bullets zipped past his head.

Eaton nodded and lead Maia further up the path. However before they could reach more stable ground, more bandits appeared in front of them. Eaton drew his rifle, it would not be much help in these close quarters, but he was equally skilled with his bayonet.

"Maia go back down the path. Not all the way but far enough that you won't get hurt by either of the fights," Eaton said as he waited for the bandits to attack.

"B-but," Maia started.

"Don't worry about us we'll be fine. Just stay back and let us handle this," Eaton said.

Then the bandits attacked. They outnumbered Eaton, but the narrow path made it impossible for more then one bandit to attack at a time. This greatly evened the odds. One of the bandits swung his sword at Eaton which he easily blocked. With a swift blow to the man's side Eaton sent him hurtling off the path. _One down, nine more to go._

Back down the path Aaron was having a difficult time holding off his attackers. He had no cover, little room to maneuver, and his opponents refused to fight him up close. _I guess they know who I am. This could be a problem. Oh well at least I'm famous. _Aaron was brought out of his musings by a bullet that struck his shoulder. "Augh. All right, enough playing around," Aaron lit a small plant from a pouch on his belt and threw it at the bandits.

The smoke made the men's vision blur and they stumbled around. Aaron took this opportunity to run up and finish them off with his dagger. Due to the effects of the poison smoke the bandits put up little resistance.

Maia was upset. Not at Eaton or Aaron. No she was upset at herself. "Why couldn't I have been a better fighter? I may be a good doctor but I have to let others get hurt protecting me. I just wish I could be more help," she sighed and leaned against the part of the mountain. However it suddenly gave in and she fell into a long dark tunnel.

Meanwhile Hiro and Zyd were having trouble fighting all of the bandits at once. They were greatly outnumbered and very tired.

"You know maybe running all the way up the mountain and then jumping right into a fight was a bad idea," Hiro said blocking an enemy's sword.

"Yeah, but you have to admit. It's a great fight!" Zyd said excitedly.

Suddenly a small black ball landed right in the midst of the fight. Black smoke like gas poured out of the ball and Hiro and Zyd began to cough and their vision blurred.

_I didn't want to have to do this but_. "Fiend Fus…" before Zyd could finish the gas overpowered him and knocked him out.

Hiro was also beginning to feel the effects of the gas. He saw a bandit approach him with a knife and a wicked gleam in his eyes. He lunged at Hiro, but Hiro was able to bring his sword up in time to cut his attacker down. "Ugh," Hiro said. "I'm…not…done…yet," then he collapsed and was dragged into the cave along with Zyd.

AN: Sorry that this one is a little short, but I wanted to go ahead and post this chapter. I will make the next one longer I promise. Also to anyone who has read Scott Pilgrim Vs. Fallout 3, a story my cousin and I are working on, I will have a poll about that story up soon if you are interested. Once again I apologize about the shortness of this chapter. Please review.


	11. Pirate OC Form

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

AN: This is not a real chapter. It is just the OC form for the pirate crew. I was going to put this in later, but I'm afraid that I have to put this story on hold for a bit. I m sorry but I have a lot of things going on and I need to time get everything sorted out (senior year is really rushed). Anyway I will continue this story hopefully in a week or two but until then I will try to get a pirate crew put together.

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Race:

Position/Job:

Weapon/Devil Fruit/Special Attacks:

History:

Family:

Personality:

Physical Description:

Friend or Foe:

Likes:

Dislikes:

Dream/Goal:

Other:

Once again I would like to apologize to those who enjoy this story, but as I said I have a lot of stuff going on and I will try to get back to writing this as soon as I can. Also I will check my inbox as often as I can, so if you want to PM me about anything I will reply as soon as I can.


	12. Reunited

A New Devil Fruit

Maia looked around her surroundings. The tunnel she had fell down lead into a large open chamber. It was full of all kinds of treasure, there were chests filled with gold and gems, artifacts, beautifully crafted weapons and armor, and large elegantly made tapestries. However, this did not interest Maia. She was too busy trying to find a way out.

"I don't get it," she said. "There's no door or anything here. How am I supposed to get out?" she stopped her search for a moment and sat down. "I wish I had something to eat," she said as she held her empty stomach. Something caught her eye. "Is that a fruit?"

Meanwhile Eaton was still holding off his attackers. He had managed to thin their numbers down to four, but the survivors had realized that their current plan was failing and were now throwing bombs at him, forcing Eaton to move back down the path. _I need to think of something quick. But without any backup I don't think anything I can come up with will work._

Just then Aaron came running up to him. "What's with all of the explosions?" he asked.

"I think I made them mad," Eaton replied. "Do you mind giving me a hand?"

"No problem," Aaron said smirking a bit. "I hit them high and you hit em low," he said.

Eaton nodded and they charged up the path. Eaton ran ahead and fired a few shots forcing the bandits to take cover and taking one down. Then he slid down on one knee and held his gun on its side. Aaron jumped onto the makeshift platform and Eaton threw him up into the air. After Aaron was thrown up into the air the bandits came out and prepared to fire on the exposed Eaton. However Aaron was faster, he took aim and fired three times and the last of the bandits fell.

"Huh. I barely even broke a sweat," Aaron said grinning. "Come on let's go find Hiro and the new guy,"

"Yes but first, where is Maia?" Eaton asked.

"What do you mean? I thought she was with you?" Aaron asked confused.

"No," Eaton said shaking his head. "I sent her back down the path since their were too many bandits to up here,"

"You don't think she…" Aaron didn't want to finish his sentence, but by the way he was looking over the edge, Eaton could guess what he meant.

He shook his head trying not to think about that. "No, she probably found a side path or a niche in the side of the cliff to hide in until the fighting stopped," Eaton said.

"Your right," Aaron said turning around. "Let's go find her," they took back down the path hoping to find Maia safe and sound.

"Hugh," Hiro sat up slowly and groaned. "What happened?"

"We got captured," Zyd said.

Hiro looked around at the small room he was in. It was dark; the only light came from a small lantern outside of his cell. "Zyd? Zyd where are you?" Hiro asked. He looked around his small cell again. Except for himself and a dirty rug, which he assumed was his bed, the room was empty.

"I'm in the cell next to yours," Zyd whispered. He heard Hiro groan again. "Hey take it easy. That gas they used to knock us out was really strong stuff. We'll both need time to fully recover,"

"…..I'm sorry," Hiro said after a moment of silence.

"What?" Zyd asked.

"I guess that I'm not ready to be a leader. I lost Captain Ozmont's sword, I got us captured, and I'm completely cut off from my men. I should have done a better job," Hiro said sounding depressed.

"Umm, in case you forgot I'm the one who said let's jump down there and get in a fight. I should have realized that the others might be hiding in the cave," Zyd said. "But do not worry captain. We shall prevail because we are members of the S.R.F. and together we can accomplish anything! As a matter of fact,"

Before Zyd could continue a tin cup flew through the bars of his cell and hit him on the head. "Would you shut up!" the guard yelled.

"Ouch. Lousy, stupid, guard," Zyd muttered. "Oh well, might as well get some rest. G'night Hiro,"

"Night Zyd," Hiro said, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep.

Maia had been looking for a way out of the chamber foe over an hour and so far she had had no luck. "It's hopeless," Maia sighed as she sat down against the wall. As she leaned back on the wall, she felt a familiar sensation. It was the feeling that you had when you lean on something, then that something is gone and you fall.

This time, however, the fall was brief. She fell back onto the floor with a thud. Maia sat up and looked at the passage that had opened up. It was a long dark tunnel that, fortunately, had two rows of lanterns on each side that illuminated it. After she had walked for a while she came across a fork in the tunnel.

"Hmmm. Should I go left or right? Well, most people would go right so I guess that's where most of the bandits will be so I'll go left," Maia said as she went down said path.

If she had decided to wait a little while she would have been reunited with Aaron and Eaton who had also found the passage on the cliff that lead to the chamber filled with treasure.

"How can we be sure that Maia came down here?" Eaton asked.

"Trust me. If anyone could have found that tunnel it would be Maia. Besides where else can she be?" Aaron asked. "Great two ways to go, well which way do you think we should go?"

"We might as well go right. There's no since in separating while when in hostile territory," Eaton said.

"…. Eaton you do realize that we _are_ separated right," Aaron said.

"Let's just go," Eaton said as he walked down the tunnel.

Maia was getting tired of dead ends. She had followed the left path all the way to the end. There was no door or gate or anything to indicate that there was anything on the opposite side of the dead end. Maia sighed and turned to walk away.

Luckily (or unluckily, however you look at it) she tripped on a rock and fell backwards. Once again the wall fell in revealing the room prisoners were kept in. "What is with this place and secret passages!" Maia yelled. She quickly covered her mouth and looked around. She saw Hiro, some other guy, a guard, who was thankfully asleep, and, again thankfully, a door.

Wait a second, Hiro and another guy? "Maia! What are you doing here?" Hiro asked in a whisper.

"Well Eaton, Aaron, and I came here to meet up with you. Then we got separated when we were attacked from two sides. Then I fell down a secret tunnel, which by the way there are a lot of here, and then I followed another path and found you and the new guy in here," Maia said in a rush.

"Ummm. How about I pretend to understand what you just said and you unlock the door," Hiro said.

"Oh, right," Maia said laughing nervously at herself for not thinking of that sooner.

She made her way over to the sleeping guard. She gently picked up the key ring from the desk the guard was sleeping at and made her back to the cage. On her way back, however, she tripped on a bucket. The result was a loud CLANG that woke Zyd up; fortunately the guard was still asleep.

"Whew. Good thing that guard is a heavy sleeper," Hiro whispered as Maia unlocked his cell.

"Hey Hiro, who's she?" Zyd asked as his cell was unlocked.

"I'm Maia; I'm the doctor for the S.R.F." Maia answered.

"Alright then, we have four objectives: First of all we need to get our gear back, second of all we need to find Aaron and Eaton, and third of all we need to stop these bandits," Hiro said.

"What's the fourth objective?" Zyd asked.

"To get something to eat, I'm starving," Hiro said.

"…. Hiro now's not really the time to be thinking about your stomach," Zyd said.

"Oh wait, I found this weird fruit you can have Hiro, I found it in a treasure room. Kind of a strange place to keep a fruit if you ask me," Maia said as she took out the fruit.

Hiro's and Zyd's eyes grew wide when they saw the fruit. "THAT'S A DEVIL FRUIT!" They both yelled, although they clamped each others mouth shut as soon as they said it.

All three of them slowly turned around to see that the guard was still asleep. "Wow that guy can sleep," Hiro said. Shaking his head he got back on the previous subject. "Maia do not eat that just hold on to it, we'll decide what to do with it later. For now take those keys and unlock that door over ther," he pointed to the appropriate door. "That's where our stuff is,"

Maia nodded and made her way to the door. As she was unlocking it she suddenly sneezed. The guard jumped up and saw Maia unlocking the door. "Heh, yer in trouble now," he said.

The guard felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around. There, behind him, were Hiro and Zyd. "Oh this is going to be fun," they both said.

Aaron and Eaton were in trouble. They had followed the passage into a large open room. Unfortunately, the room happened to be full of bandits, bandits with guns. As soon as they set foot in the room there was a moment of silence because neither side had expected the other.

Eaton recovered from the shock first and fired his gun at the closest bandits. Aaron followed shortly after with another one of his poison smoke bombs and they retreated. They went back down the passage and stopped, fired a volley at the approaching bandits and retreated further back.

"Let's go down the right path, there won't be anyone there. Got anymore great ideas?" Aaron asked.

"First of all you're the one who asked, second of all, this is a bandit hideout there are going to be bandits everywhere, and third of all I do have a plan," Eaton said.

"Well, I'm waiting," Aaron said as he fired another shot from his pistol.

"I need you to throw another of your hallucination bombs, and then we rush forward," Eaton said.

"That sounds crazy. But I guess it's better than staying here," Aaron said. "You might want to cover your mouth with something first, so you won't breathe in the fumes,"

Eaton nodded and pulled out a bandana and wrapped it around his face, Aaron did the same with a piece of cloth. They both nodded at each other to acknowledge that they were ready. Aaron threw the hallucination bomb and rushed forward with his dagger ready, Eaton close behind already firing his rifle.

They charged through the confused bandits and back into the room they had first encountered them in. they quickly locked and blockaded the door. "I can't believe that actually worked," Aaron said. As he sat down to catch his breathe.

"Me neither," Eaton agreed as he too sat down.

"What! But it was your idea!" Aaron shouted standing up.

"Yes, but it only had a 47% chance of actually working. I guess taking risks does work out sometimes," Eaton said casually.

"What the. 47% chance! And you didn't think that I would like to know this!" Aaron shouted at Eaton.

"I knew you would, but if I told you the odds before would you have still done it?" Eaton asked.

"Hmm. I guess I see your point, but still next time, tell me what I'm getting into alright?" Aaron asked. "And don't worry; I don't back down that easily,"

"Alright then," Eaton said standing up. "Let's go see if we can find the others,"

Suddenly they heard what sounded like a fight coming from behind a door on the opposite side of the room. "I think we found them," Aaron said as he ran towards the door.

After taking out the guard and getting their equipment back, Hiro, Zyd, and Maia began to look for Aaron and Eaton. However, they soon ran into trouble when they met the bandit leader.

He was a large man; he wore tattered brown pants and a black sleeveless shirt. He had scars all over his arm and face and even had several on his bald head. He wielded a large halberd and he did not look happy to see that his prisoners had escaped.

"Which one of you runts stole my devil fruit!" he roared.

"Lohan, you did always have a way with words," Zyd said.

"Shut up and die!" Lohan yelled as he swung his halberd at him.

Zyd blocked the attacked and jumped back. Hiro drew his sword and stood next to him. "Maia, stay back, we'll deal Tiny," he said.

Lohan yelled in fury and tried to take off Hiro's head, but he was too quick. Hiro jumped to the side and drew his pistol "Dragon's Breathe!" the fireball hit Lohan's side and knocked him off balance. Zyd then rushed towards him and struck him with his Nodachi.

"Back off you runts," Lohan yelled as he grabbed Zyd and threw him into Hiro. "Now then, time to finish you!" Lohan yelled as he brought his halberd down on them.

"I don't think so Havoc Strike!" Zyd yelled as he kicked Lohan back.

"Dragon's Claw!" Hiro yelled as he slashed the air creating an air blade that slammed into Lohan.

Lohan was knocked back but he didn't seem to care he charged forward and slammed his hammer into Hiro throwing him into a wall. Zyd rushed to aid his comrade "Raining Fangs!" he yelled as he jumped into the air and released a shockwave towards Lohan.

"Enough!" Lohan swung his hammer and knocked Zyd out of the air. "Now then where were we?" he asked turning back towards Hiro.

"Right at the part where we come in and save the day," Aaron said as he and Eaton came in.

"How many of you guys are there!" Lohan yelled bringing his hammer down towards Eaton.

Eaton dodged and cut his arm with his bayonet. Aaron diverted his attention from Eaton by firing several shots at him, but he seemed not to even notice them. _I don't get it. That guy didn't even blink!_

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you guys something. They call him Lohan 'Iron Skin', because he's impervious to nearly all physical attacks," Zyd said.

"Thank you for telling us, but would it kill you to mention that before we fought the guy!" Hiro yelled.

AN: I am really, really, really sorry it took me this long to finish this chapter. I meant to have it up last week, but some things came up. Anyway I hope you liked this chapter and remember that I still need OCs particularly pirate ones. I don't know if I mentioned this or not but the pirates you submit will get their own story. It will be set during the same time as this, just told from a different perspective. Also you can create the captain if you want. Anyway once again I am sorry and I will try to get the next chapter up soon (fall break starts today so if I'm not too busy with work I should be able to get another one done). Please leave a review.


	13. The Power of the Devil Fruit

The Power of the Devil Fruit

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. The OCs belong to their creators.

_Great how can we beat a guy with skin as hard as steel? _Thought Hiro as he dodged an attack from the angry bandit. _We need to think of a plan fast! _"Hey Eaton, got any ideas on how to take this guy down?" Hiro asked.

"Nothing comes to mind," Eaton replied as he fired a shot at Lohan.

"Give it up you wimps. You can't beat me!" Lohan yelled swinging his halberd at Zyd who tried to sneak up behind him. The blow connected and knocked Zyd into a wall. Lohan moved up to finish him when several bullets struck his back.

"Over here!" Aaron shouted as he continued to fire at the giant. His distraction worked but, now Lohan was rushing at him. Lohan's halberd came down, but Aaron jumped to the side. However, he didn't react quickly enough and the halberd cut into his leg.

Hiro and Zyd jumped toward Lohan and unleashed their attacks at him. "Dragon's Claw!" "Demon Fang!"

The combined attack knocked Lohan back, keeping him from attacking Aaron. Hiro and Aaron ran over to Aaron who was being helped up by Eaton. "Aaron! Are you alright? Can you walk?" Hiro asked worriedly.

"Ugh. Don't worry about me. It'll take more then that to keep me down," Aaron replied.

Maia came running over with a medical bag and knelt down next to Aaron. "Give me a second. I'll patch you leg up," she said taking out her supplies. Unfortunately she also sat the devil fruit down and Lohan saw it.

"So you took my devil fruit!" Lohan yelled as he charged towards the group.

"Everybody! Let's all hit him at the same time!" Eaton called out taking aim with his rifle. Aaron also took aim and Hiro and Zyd prepared to launch their attacks. "NOW!"

Their attacks hit and Lohan was thrown into the far wall. But he got up and continued his assault. He knocked Hiro and the others over and ran straight towards Maia. He brought his halberd down only for it to be intercepted by Hiro's sword.

"No one hurts my friends. Got that Tiny!" Hiro yelled as he pushed forward knocking Lohan off balance. "Dragon's Fang!" the usual flurry of sharp rocks hit the bandit leader, but at this range Hiro's sword also hit him leaving a deep gash on his face. The giant bandit cried out in pain and swatted Hiro aside.

"Maia! Get out of here!" Hiro yelled as the others went to intercept Lohan. But Lohan battered them out of his way and ran towards Maia. Maia panicked and threw the devil fruit as far as she could, which turned out to be right to Eaton's open mouth.

Eaton had been about to call out to the bandit in an attempt to distract him when the devil fruit landed in his mouth. He was knocked on his back from the impact and when he sat up; everyone saw the bite taken out of the devil fruit.

"Hey! That was my devil fruit!" Lohan yelled changing direction to attack Eaton.

"Oh no you don't," Zyd said jumping in front of the charging giant. He swung his large Nodachi at Lohan. "Blade Fury" the large number of slashes did not seem to affect Lohan and he swung his halberd into Zyd and knocked him down.

Hiro and Aaron helped Eaton up and readied themselves for the oncoming assault. "Hey Eaton, what power did you get?" Hiro asked.

"I-I'm not sure exactly," Eaton said.

"Well what it ever it is maybe it can help us. Use it now!" Aaron said as he shot at the charging behemoth.

"How am I supposed to use it?" Eaton asked.

"You mean you don't know how to use your devil fruit power!" Hiro asked as he launched a Dragon's Claw attack.

"I just ate the fruit. How am I supposed to know what it does and how it works?" Eaton asked.

"Um guys?" Aaron said trying to get his two friends attention.

"I don't know. It should be like instinct or something," Hiro said.

"Guys," Aaron said a little louder.

"Since when are you an expert on devil fruits and how to use them?" Eaton asked.

"Guys!" Aaron yelled.

"Listen I am your captain and I am ordering you to use your new devil fruit power!" Hiro said.

"I don't know how!" Eaton said.

"GUYS!" Aaron roared.

"What!" They both yelled. Hiro and Eaton turned to see Aaron holding off Lohan with his dagger. "Oh,"

Hiro and Eaton nodded to each other and they ran to help Aaron. Hiro did a somersault and landed in front of Lohan and slashed at him with his katana. Eaton fired three shots at him hoping to divert his attention. He succeeded but instead of running towards him Lohan threw his halberd at him.

Things seemed to slow down for Eaton. He saw the large weapon coming towards him at an incredible speed. He knew he wouldn't be able to dodge in time. In the split second before the halberd reached him, Eaton felt different. He closed his eyes and waited for the blow. But he never felt it.

When he opened his eyes he realized several things. One was that he was not dead; two was that everyone was looking at him, and three was that he could see more than he should be able to. He looked around and saw wasps everywhere. He moved forward, but stopped when he saw all of the wasps move with him.

Then he realized what was happening. _Did I turn into a swarm of wasps? That devil fruit must have been a Zoan type. _Eaton thought. _But what good will a swarm of wasps do against a man who can shrug off bullets?_

Lohan recovered from his shock at seeing Eaton turn into a swarm of wasps and knocked Hiro and Aaron back. "It's fitting that you ate that fruit. Now I can really squash you like the bug you are!" he yelled as he rushed at him.

Eaton separated from his other selves and tried to spread out around the room. But, when he did he felt a searing pain go through his head. He could feel his mind fracturing and began to lose control of the other pieces of him. _Ugh. I need to pull myself together. _Eaton concentrated and brought all of the pieces of him together in the center of the room.

_Okay separating is a bad idea._ Eaton looked around Hiro, Aaron, and Zyd were unconscious and Maia couldn't fight. _Now what? How can I stop that guy by myself? His skin is as hard as iron. Wait a second. _Eaton had a plan, now all he had to do was put into action.

_I am going to regret this. _Eaton thought as he turned back into his human form. He took aim with his rifle and fired several times to get the giant bandit's attention. Lohan roared in anger and charged straight towards him yelling a battle cry. Eaton smiled slightly and rushed to meet Lohan. Right before they reached each other Eaton shifted into his swarm form and flew down Lohan's open mouth.

Lohan was confused for a second before he felt the stinging pain of having a swarm of wasps in your mouth and throat. He thrashed around for a minuet before collapsing from the pain.

Eaton exited the unconscious man and turned back to normal. He looked over at Maia who was checking on their unconscious friends. "Not a word about that to anyone," Eaton said as he walked out of the room.

"Wait, where are you going?" Maia asked.

"To find a river or pond and throw myself in. Repeatedly," Eaton said as he left.

The others awoke soon after. They were relieved to find out that Eaton had taken care of Lohan but were confused when he didn't say how. He merely said that it was thanks to his devil fruit and that he did not plan on ever doing that again.

This did not stop Hiro from asking questions about his devil fruit. "What was it like being split up? Why did you lose control when you separated? What did it taste like?" Hiro asked.

"It was a unique experience. I don't know but I guess it was due to that some insects function by using a hive mind. Thinking together if you will and when I split up I couldn't use that hive mind to send thoughts out to my other parts easily. And it tasted horrible," Eaton said answering all of Hiro's questions.

"Okay now that we're done playing twenty questions, can we please get going?" Aaron asked.

"Oh, right. Sorry about that. O.K. then let's move out!" Hiro said.

"Um. Which way is out?" Zyd asked.

"I know!" Maia said. She walked over to a wall and began to push at it in different places.

"What are you doing?" Hiro asked.

"There are secret passages everywhere around here," Maia said. "We just need to find it,"

"Okay? I guess we should help her?" Hiro said unsure.

"Aha! I found it!" Maia said. The others looked up and saw a tunnel with light coming out of the other side. Hiro, Aaron, Eaton, and Zyd looked at each other, shrugged and followed Maia outside.

"Man, it feels good to be out in sunshine," Hiro said stretching.

"We were only down there for a few hours. You realize that right?" Eaton asked.

"Yeah, but you weren't locked up for most of it," Hiro said.

"Come on you two, I am not listening to you two arguing again, alright," Aaron said.

"Oh, sorry Aaron," Hiro said.

"That was awesome! I am so glad that joined up with you guys! This is going to be one hell of an adventure!" Zyd yelled enthusiastically.

The group was back in town. A squad of marines went to collect the bandits and the members of the S.R.F. were paid the bounty on the bandits since it wasn't an official mission. All in all it was a good day.

Aaron was walking down the street taking in the sights. Hiro was filling out forms at the marine base since he was their leader, Eaton and Maia were gathering supplies for the trip, and Zyd was saying goodbye to his old friends at the base.

He was walking past a tavern when he heard something come from behind him. He continued walking for a little while and spun around a launched a punch at the person following him. It was blocked and Aaron got a good look at his follower. His eyes widened.

"What th?" He asked. But he was cut off before he could finish by a blow to the head.

"Huh. How pathetic," said a shadowy figure.

"Take him back to the hideout," said the one who attacked Aaron from behind.

"What about the others?" asked the first.

"Don't worry about them. We'll take care of them in due time. For now stick to the plan. Don't worry you will have your revenge," the figure said.

"Fine. Let's just hurry this up," the first one said.

AN: I'm sorry this one is short, but I had some trouble with this chapter. Anyway the next chapter will go back to Garp's group. But you will find out what happened to Aaron and who those figures are. I will also try to get the first chapter of my spin-off story up soon, but I am not making any promises as to when it'll come out. Also I am going to have a little contest. You can PM me an idea for the story. I will put up a poll and a description of the idea. You can and pick the best one. Who ever wins will have their idea used in the story and as a bonus can ask me any question they want about the story and I will answer it. The poll will last one month. Anyway please review and submit an OC if you want.


	14. The Blood Baron and the Music Guru

The Blood Baron and the Music Guru.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. All OCs belong to their owners.

Kaj was leaning on the railing of the ship. He stared out to see as Garp approached him. "So, are you sure that this plan of yours will work?" Garp asked.

"Something can always go wrong, but I think it'll work. Why you worried?" Kaj asked.

"Not for myself. If something goes, if we fail then whoever put those pirates in power will win. No one will no the truth and who knows what will happen. Probably a war that'll kill a lot of people, a lot of innocent people," Garp said solemnly.

"Garp. You're actually serious. I didn't know you had it in you," Kaj said. "I wouldn't worry too much though. I mean Luffy is still alive and he won't let anything like that happen. Besides we got the S.R.F. too,"

"I guess your right," Garp said sighing. Then he grinned. " Come on let's get ready for our little 'interview' with Van Saren,"

"There's the old annoying Garp I know," Kaj said grinning back.

"If you two are done having your moment, I see Van Saren's ship!" Layla said.

"Alright then, get ready you two and remember, stick to the plan," Kaj said.

Meanwhile on Van Saren's ship.

"Sir! The ship we were told about is coming this way!" a pirate informed the 'Blood Baron'

"Good, good," Van Saren said. The Blood Baron was a tall man, easily reaching seven foot. He had purple eyes and silver slicked back hair and extravagant noble clothes. But, his most distinguishable characteristic was his long pointed canine teeth.

" Soon a whole ship full of beautiful women, beli and tomato juice will be mine. Muhahahaha!" Saren laughed.

"Um sir? Don't you think it's just a little suspicious that we find out about a ship filled with your favorite things?" the pirate asked.

"I did at first. But, I have been informed by one of my faithful business partners that it is legit. And if it is a trap then he will pay. So nothing to worry about," Saren said.

By the time the pirates boarded the ship Garp, Layla, and Kaj were hiding. The pirates became suspicious and began to carefully search the ship. However, while they were checking the ship Garp and the others snuck over to Van Saren's ship.

"Alright so now we just need to find this Blood Baron guy and see what he knows," Garp said.

"I know that there are three uninvited marines on my ship," they heard a voice say.

They turned around and saw Van Saren and a group of pirates standing next to him. "Did you really think that I would not take precautions against something like this? My only regret is that I'm about to lose a good business partner," Van Saren said.

Kaj nodded. "You can't trust anyone these days, can you?" he said.

"Silence! Now what shall I do with you,"

"I kind of like to be let go. Just saying," Kaj said.

"Guards, throw them in the brig with the other prisoner!" Van Saren said.

"I don't think so," Layla said. She rushed past the guards and punched at Van Saren. However, he caught her fist and looked right into her eyes. "Well, well, well, aren't you a pretty little thing. Why don't you come with me while your friends go down to the brig," he said.

"What's he doing!" Garp yelled.

Kaj cursed under his breathe. "I heard about this but I didn't think it was true. He can hypnotize people just by looking into their eyes,"

"NOW YOU TELL US!" Garp yelled punching a guard.

Kaj drew his mace and battered away another one. Garp picked one up and threw him into the sea, but before they could continue their assault they were stopped by Van Saren.

"Ahem. If I were you and if I cared about my friend I would stop fighting…now," Van Saren said. Garp and Kaj looked up and saw Layla standing on the edge of the railing.

"Layla!" Garp and Kaj yelled.

"Being a devil fruit user myself, I know what happens to one when they fall into the sea. So unless you want her to drown I suggest you come quietly," Van Saren said.

Garp and Kaj looked ready to kill Van Saren, but they complied. They were lead away by several armed guards to the brig down below. "So much for your great plan, Kaj," Garp said.

"How was I supposed to know that the rumors were true?" Kaj shot back.

The two men were thrown into the cell and the door was locked. The cell was fairly large, easily able to hold six people, and had three beds made. Garp walked over to one of the beds and sat down.

"Well, now what do we do?" Garp asked sighing.

"We wait till the moment's right, and then we beat the crap out of the Baron and see what he knows," Kaj said lying down.

"We I get my hands on that guy I'll," Garp couldn't finish his threat because he fell asleep.

Now it was Kaj's turn to sigh. "Let me guess, you'll fall asleep like always?"

"What's with him?" a voice asked.

"Huh?" Kaj jumped up from his bed and looked around. He saw a young man lying on the bed farthest from him. "Who the heck are you?" he asked.

"Who me?" the stranger asked. "I'm Ensign Landon Duran. Who are you?"

"My name's Kaj, I'm a former member of the marines' intelligence division. The old man sleeping over there is Vice-Admiral Garp," Kaj said.

"Oh. Well it's nice to have some company after being stuck here for so long," Landon said.

Kaj got a better look at him now. He had messy blue hair and eyes, which were half closed, were black. He also had a tribal tattoo over his left eye. He had a pair of headphones hung around his neck and he wore a standard marine outfit, minus the cap. He also, despite the situation, looked very bored.

"So, what are you doing here Landon?" Kaj asked sitting back down.

"Well, my last captain kept saying that I was a lazy good for nothing and told me to wait at port until he decided that I could come back," Landon said. "Anyway, the Blood Baron came and attacked the town so I fought them, and I got captured. I guess they figured that they could hold me hostage or something,"

"So have you heard any of their plans yet?" Kaj whispered.

"Not really. Sure they talk a lot, but it's usually boring stuff so I don't really pay attention," Landon said putting on his headphones.

"You don't seem particularly bothered by the fact that you're being held captive by a blood thirsty pirate," Kaj commented.

"Eh, after the first week or so it just got boring," Landon said listening to his music. "Besides, you don't bothered too much either,"

"That's because I have a plan," Kaj said smirking.

Van Saren looking over files that contained information on his prisoners. Two were Vice-admirals, one was a former intelligence officer, and one was an Ensign. "They should be quite useful to me," he said grinning.

"You wanted to see me Baron?" a pirate asked as he walked into Van Saren's office.

"Yes. I want you to bring me the prisoners. It's time to put my grand plan into action," Van Saren said.

"Yes sir," the pirate said as he left the room.

_Soon, very soon, I will take over the ultimate business. The World Government! _Van Saren thought.

Back in the cells several pirates had come to gather Garp, Kaj, and Landon. However, they ran into some trouble getting Garp up.

"Alright come on. Get up you old geezer," one of them said as he tried to wake Garp.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Kaj said calmly. "He's very particular about his naps,"

"I like this guy already," Landon drowsily.

"I said get up!" the pirate yelled. This did, indeed, wake Garp up, but he was angry about being so rudely woken up.

He knocked the pirate into the wall and stood up looking down on him. "Don't you have any respect for your betters?"

"H-hey come with us. Van Saren wants to see you," one of the pirates said nervously.

"Well, isn't that a coincidence, we want to talk to him too," Garp said as they left the room.

The three naval officers had their arms and legs bound, in Kaj's case his chain was attached to the one on his legs, and they where told to wait on the deck until Van Saren came. When he did arrive they were forced down on their knees and were told to bow their heads.

"So then this is the best that the marines could send after me? I'm insulted," Van Saren said as he looked down on the three marines with contempt. "Well, then before I begin my master plan is there anything you wish to know?"

"Yeah, um what _is_ your plan exactly?" Landon asked.

"I'm glad you asked. Ever since I became the business tycoon that I am, I wanted to take over the World Government, the ultimate business!" Van Saren said excitedly as he turned his back to the group. "My plan is rather simple: I hypnotize some high-ranking marine officers, such as these two gentlemen, and then I ransom them back to the government. They'll think I just did it for money so they won't be suspicious. Then the hypnotized officers will lure other high-ranking officers into traps that I set so that I can hypnotize them,"

"Then those officers will continue the cycle until everyone one of the marines is under my control. Then I will take control of the government with its very own army! And the best part is I barely have to lift a finger because you all will do it for me!" Van Saren began to laugh as a breeze blew past him.

"So, what do you think? Its genius isn't it?" Van Saren asked as he turned back to face his prisoners. However, he fell over when he saw that Garp, Kaj, and Landon had fallen asleep and were leaning against each other.

"What do you think you're doing!" he yelled waking up the three men. "You don't sleep during my evil monologue! And you asked me what my plan was to begin with!" He yelled pointing an accusing finger at Landon.

"Yeah, but it started to bore after the 'My plan is rather simple' part," Landon said.

"When did that happen? I guess I was already asleep," Garp said.

"I got to the part where he hypnotizes us before I fell asleep," Kaj said.

"Did you really miss my entire speech!" Van Saren yelled offended

"Sorry, but you need to work on holding your audience's attention," Landon said as he stood up and stretched his arms.

"What do you mean I need to work on holding my audience's attention! And another thing…wait how are you stretching your arms. You're supposed to be tied up?" Van Saren said confused.

"Sumiyaka Cannon!" he heard a voice say from behind. He felt a force collided into his back and sent flying towards Garp and the others.

"What, who did that!" Van Saren said turning around only to see Layla standing, ready to fight. "B-but, you're supposed to be hypnotized,"

Layla took out something from her eyes. "I was wearing these all along. Kaj made them so I could resist your hypnosis," she said.

"So this was your plan all along? And that breeze was you unlocking your friends. Not bad, but, now you need to deal with me and my crew!" Van Saren yelled as his crew surrounded them.

"Layla," Garp called out. "We'll take care of these guys; you can have Van Saren,"

"You just made my day Garp," Layla said as she faced down the 'Blood Baron' "I'm going to teach you why you shouldn't mistreat a lady!" she yelled as she rushed down and punched Van Saren in the jaw,

Meanwhile Garp and the others were knocking the pirates around with little effort. Kaj was impressed by Landon's skill.

"Not bad kid," he said as he watched Landon effortlessly dodge several attacks and then take down another pirate, all in the same motion. "How is it that someone with your skill is only an Ensign?"

"I don't something about how I don't listen to my commanding officer or something," Landon replied.

Kaj just grinned. "The more I get to know you, the more I like you Landon,"

"Huh, did you say something?" Landon asked.

Kaj sighed. "Never mind,"

Layla was having trouble fighting Van Saren. She was faster, sure, but her attacks didn't seem to have much effect on him. Plus he had nearly gotten several hits on her with his rapier.

"Hold still," Van Saren growled as he slashed at her again.

"Not gonna happen," Layla growled back. _Dang what am I going to do? My regular attacks aren't cutting it, and I don't have time to do another Sumiyaka Cannon._

While she was thinking Van Saren was able to land a slash on her leg and she gripped her leg in pain. She looked up and saw Van Saren's rapier some down in slow motion.

She was saved at the last minuet however by Landon. He jumped between them and kicked Van Saren away.

"I'll distract him and you hit him with that technique you did earlier, okay?" he asked.

Before she could respond Landon jumped towards Van Saren and assumed a ready stance.

"Ha, you've come to fight me again? I'll just beat you like last time," he laughed.

"No you won't. Because this time I don't need to watch out for civilians, so I don't have to hold back," as Landon was talking he put his headphones on and selected a song. "Heavy Striker!" he yelled as he turned on the heavy metal music.

He lunged at Van Saren and delivered a powerful punch that knocked him back several feet. He continued his assault with a flurry of punches and kicks. Finally he nodded towards Layla and jumped behind Van Saren.

"Bullet with Butterfly Wings!" Landon yelled as he punched Van Saren's back, a pair of butterfly wings radiating off the punch, and knocked him towards Layla.

Layla grinned as she twisted her arms dug her feet into the ground. Just before Van Saren reached her she punched her fists together the energy blasted towards him. "Sumiyaka Cannon!"

The attack forced Van Saren to the ground and knocked him unconscious. Garp and Kaj, who had finished off the lesser pirates, admired their friend's handiwork.

"Nice job. Maybe now we can get some answers," Garp said.

"I'm afraid not," a voice said.

The group turned to see a young woman standing on the deck of a ship that had just pulled up next to them.

"Who are you? This is an official marine investigation! You can't just interrupt us," Garp said.

Kaj cursed under his breathe. "Actually she can Garp. She's Saiyan D. Karina, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea,"

"Yes and I'm sorry but, I have to take this man into custody," Karina said.

"But, we need to integrate him first," Layla said.

"I have direct orders to bring him into custody immediately. I'm sorry you had to go through all that trouble" Karina said.

"Never that, let's just go," Garp said as he walked back to their ship, which was tied to Van Saren's ship.

"We're not giving up that easily," Layla said it was more of a statement than a question.

"Of course not, Kaj can find out where their taking Van Saren?" Garp asked.

"All I need is a port, a couple hundred beli, and some drunk marines," Kaj said.

"Good, this investigation is far from over," Garp looked over at Landon who was following them. "I guess you're stuck with us for a little while,"

"That's alright, I needed something to do anyway, and this sounds way better than going with those guys," he replied.

"Alright then, let's go!" Garp yelled striking a heroic pose, causing Karina's men to stare at him.

"Could you look like a bigger fool? Cahahaahahah!" Layla laughed.

"Why you!" Garp said as he chased the speedy Vice-admiral.

"It's gonna be a _long_ investigation," Kaj said as Landon nodded.

AN: Alright I am very, very, very sorry for not updating for so long. But, I have been busy and this chapter is probably my longest one yet, so I hope that makes up for it. Anyway no one submitted any ideas so there won't be a poll. Also the first chapter for my spin-off should be up by Saturday or Sunday, but no promises. Anyway please review.


	15. Aaron's Evil Twin?

Aaron's Evil Twin!

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. All OCs belong t o their creators.

Aaron awoke with a headache. He was tied to a chair and couldn't move. He tried to remember what had happened to him. He had been ambushed and he had seen someone. But, he couldn't quite remember who it was. Then he saw the same man walk into the room and he stared at him in shock. "NICK!" he shouted at his brother.

"Hello Aaron," Nick sneered back as he leaned against the wall.

"Nick! Why did you attack me? No wait, where have you been? I've been looking for you for years," Aaron said.

"Why so you could sell the whole set?" Nick growled at him.

"What?" Aaron asked confused.

"Don't play games Aaron! I know what you did!" Nick yelled furious.

"Nick what are you talking about? What's gotten into you?" Aaron asked.

"I know Aaron; I know what happened all those years ago. How you sold our people into slavery! How you killed our parents! I know everything!" Nick yelled angrily.

"What! Nick, I don't know who told you that, but, it's a lie! I was a slave too. I had to stay on the island and wait until we could all escape," Aaron said, trying to reason with his brother.

"Don't lie to me! These people saved me and told me what happened!" Nick said gesturing to several people who entered the room.

Aaron recognized them as the slavers from long ago. He tried to break free and attack them, but, he couldn't get out of the ropes. "Nick, those guys are the slavers! They've been lying to you!" Aaron tried to warn his brother in vain.

"Heh, you're pathetic. You think you can turn me against the people who saved me?" Nick asked.

"Nick is a fine young man, unlike you," said on of the slavers as he rested his hand on Nick's shoulder. "He's been waiting to get revenge on you and your friends for quite some time,"

"My friends?" Aaron asked. "Wait, you're going to attack Hiro and the others!"

"That's right I going to kill all of your slaver friends, and then I'm going to kill you," Nick said.

"Listen Nick, Hiro and the others aren't slavers, they're marines! If you attack them you're going to have the whole navy after you, and that's if you survive attacking them," Aaron warned.

"Now, why would they attack one of their own? As far as they know you're just fine so whats to keep me from impersonating you?" Nick said as he walked out of the room.

"Nick! Don't do this; you don't know what you're getting into!" Aaron yelled out at his brother. But, Nick continued out of the room.

Hiro sighed as he walked out of the marine office. "I hate paper work. Oh well, I guess someone has to do it," he continued to walk down the street until he came across Eaton and Maia. "Hey guys! Have you seen Zyd or Aaron yet?"

"No, but I assume they're waiting for us at the ship," Eaton said. "Which reminds me, we have a new assignment,"

"Already?" Hiro asked. "What's it about?"

"I assume you are familiar with Captain Valerie Steele right?" Eaton asked as they began to walk down the street to the docks.

"The legendary vessel captain?" Hiro asked. "Of course I've heard of her, why?"

"She was on a mission, top secret apparently because no one seems to know much about it. Anyway she has not reported back for quite some time, we are to investigate and, if possible, locate Captain Steele," Eaton explained.

"Um, what's a vessel" Maia asked.

"I will explain everything in greater detail when we are all together and on the ship," Eaton said.

"Explain what?" Zyd asked as he came up them.

"Oh, hey Zyd. We've got a new mission so we'll be heading out son. Are you ready?" Hiro asked.

"Yeah, I can't wait to start the mission. This is going to be really exciting. I can tell," Zyd said. "Hey, where's Aaron?"

"I'm right here," "Aaron" said. Little did they know however, was that Aaron was actually his brother Nick in disguise.

"Aaron where've you been?" Maia asked.

"I was taking a walk. Relaxing a bit before we head out," Nick said.

Back at the warehouse were Aaron was being held hostage, he was thinking of a way to escape and help his friends. He was also thinking of a way to save his brother from these thugs.

_If I can just reach one of my herb pouches. _Aaron thought as he struggled against the rope. He was able to slip his hand into one and pulled out a couple of poison leaves. _These should work, now all I need to do is find a way to get them to eat them. _ He glanced over at a table which his two jailors were sitting at and drinking. _Or maybe I can get them to drink it._

Aaron crushed the leaves into a powder and rushed at the two men. He threw himself into one of the men and knocked him down. The other man grabbed the chair that Aaron was still tied to and pulled him up. He punched Aaron in the face and tossed him on the ground.

After that they went back to drinking, but, they kept a closer eye on him this time. Perhaps if they had been paying more attention sooner they would have noticed him drop the powder into their drinks. However, they didn't notice and within a few minuets they were dead.

Aaron smirked and was finally able to out of the rope. He grabbed his dagger and gun from the table and took off to go find Hiro and the others. _I just hope I'm not too late._

_We're almost to the ambush spot_. Nick thought. The group was walking down a narrow alley near the docks.

"Hey Aaron, are you sure this is a shortcut to our ship?" Hiro asked.

"Yeah, I found it while I was walking around," Nick said. He glanced up at a building a few yards ahead. _Nearly there._

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot," Hiro said turning to face Nick. "I wanted to ask you something,"

"What is it?" Nick asked. The next thing he knew he was up against the wall with Hiro's sword against his throat.

"Who are you and the hell did you do to Aaron!" Hiro yelled angrily.

"What are you talking about, I'm Aaron," Nick said. All this did was earn him a punch to the face from Hiro.

"Wrong answer!" Hiro said.

"Uh, Hiro what's going on?" Zyd asked.

Hiro turned to look at the others who all reacted differently. Zyd was surprised and had his hand on his sword, Maia looked scared, and Eaton… well he hardly ever showed emotion so there was no change.

"This guy's not Aaron. He's an imposter!" Hiro said.

"Are you joking? You don't have any proof," Nick said.

"Shut up!" Hiro said as he punched him again. "Aaron's eyes are greyish blue, yours are brown,"

"Dang, attack them now!" Nick yelled. As soon as he did a swarm of slavers came out of the building in front of them. They brandished a variety of weapons and they looked like seasoned fighters.

Hiro reacted quickly; he threw Nick to the ground and charged the oncoming enemies. "Zyd back me up, Eaton get Maia out of here!' he yelled.

Zyd charged forward right behind Hiro and began to use Demon Fang attack, while Eaton took Maia by the hand and ran back the way they came. However, it wasn't too long before several shots rang out and Eaton and Maia came running back.

"We're surrounded," Eaton said as he fired into the oncoming enemies.

_This isn't good! _Hiro thought as slashed at one of the slavers knocking him down. _We need to get out of here, but, how? I wish I knew where Aaron was. _Hiro blocked a strike from one of his opponents and quickly disarmed him, before kicking him away. "Zyd, cut a path through those guys so Eaton and Maia can get out of here!" Hiro shouted to his crewmate.

"I can't just leave you! You'll be overwhelmed!" Zyd shouted back as he cut down another thug.

"Listen, I'll be fine. You need to help Eaton and Maia now. Don't worry about me; I won't let these guys beat me. Now go!" Hiro said as he continued to fight slavers.

Zyd glanced at Hiro for a second before he charged at the enemies behind him. "You're in my way! Raining Fangs!" Zyd jumped up in the air and released a shockwave at the people below. The force knocked several out of the way and Eaton and Maia followed quickly. Zyd stayed with them until they reached the end of the alley.

"I need to go back and help Hiro," he said as he turned to rush back into the fight.

"I'll come too," Eaton said. "Will you be alright Maia?"

"Don't worry about me, just go help the captain," she said.

"Right, let's go Eaton. We shall charge into the belly of the beast and return with our captain! Fear not Hiro, for together we can accomplish anything! Right Eaton!" Zyd said, giving another one of his famous speeches. Sadly, it didn't noticeably effect Eaton, who just stared at him.

"Are you done yet?" Eaton asked.

"One of these days I'll will inspire you to do something great," Zyd said.

"Do you know what would be great now? If you saved our captain from being killed," Maia said.

Zyd and Eaton nodded and ran back into the alley, ready to help their captain. Meanwhile Maia started to run to the ship when a thought struck her. _If that really was an imposter, then where's Aaron. I've got to find him!_ Although she didn't know where Aaron was, she did remember where they met with the imposter, so that was a start.

Hiro was struggling against the never-ending attacks made by the slavers. He may have been more skilled than they were, but they had him outnumbered. Hiro spun around and slashed at the ones coming from behind him, but he had to jump to the side to avoid another ones sword. _I can't keep this up forever._ Hiro thought as he panted. _I may not survive, but at least the others are ok. They'll find Aaron and take these guys down. The only thing I can do is make their job a little easier. _

"That's it! I'm going to take as many of you as I can down with me! Dragon's Claw!" Hiro unleashed a shockwave into horde of enemies and charged forward. He swung his sword wildly, lashing out in all directions. Whenever he swung his sword, at least two slavers fell. However, it wasn't too long before one of them landed a lucky blow on his back and Hiro collapsed on the ground. The last thing he saw before he lost conscious was a group of people running towards him and knocking the slavers away.

Maia was looking around an alley near where they had met the imposter. She remembered that he had come form this direction and hoped to find Aaron, but, the alley led to a shady part of town and she had no idea where to look for him. She glanced behind her and saw two men following her. She quickened her pace, but, it wasn't long before they caught up with her.

"Just give us your money and we might not hurt you," one of them said as he drew a small knife from his pocket.

The man was suddenly knocked back by a man who was familiar to Maia. "Aaron!" she shouted glad to see her crewmate.

"You alright?" he asked. She nodded and he turned to face the two robbers. "You two should leave, now,"

"You can't boss us around!" the first man said as he picked up his knife and ran at Aaron.

Aaron blocked his strike with his dagger. "You call that a weapon?" he asked. He shoved the man back and kicked him in the face, knocking him unconscious.

The other man ran at him, but Maia stuck her foot out and he fell face first to the ground. Aaron walked on top of the man and stood next to Maia. "Thanks for the help,"

"Oh, it was nothing. Come on we need to find Hiro and the others, they need your help," Maia explained.

"Alright then, let's go," Aaron said and they ran off back to the alley.

When they reached the alley they saw Zyd and Eaton crouched over Hiro's body. "Hiro!" Aaron yelled and he ran over to check on his friend. Maia ran over and began to examine him.

"He's still breathing, we need to get him back to the ship. I can patch him up there," Maia said seriously.

"What happened to the guys that attacked you?" Aaron asked.

"We don't know for sure," Eaton said. "When we got here they were all like this, but there were some other people here. They left when we said that we would take care of him,"

Zyd picked up Hiro and started to walk back to the ship when he saw someone. "Hey, there's one of them," he pointed to a man wearing a teal t- shirt, black cargo pants, black shoes, and black fingerless gloves with metal studs over the knuckles.

"We took down those thugs, but, it looks like the higher-ups got away. Is your friend ok?" the stranger asked.

"He'll be fine if we get him on the ship soon. Come on Zyd!" Maia said and ran off to get things set up, with Zyd right behind her.

"Do you know which way the ones that escaped went?" Aaron asked the stranger.

"I think they went up north, but, there are a lot of islands up that way, they could be going to any of them," the man said.

Aaron looked down at the ground._ I finally find you Nick, and you run off. I promise you though, I'm going to find you and show you the truth. _"Thank you for saving our captain. Who are you?" Aaron asked looking up at the man.

My name's Russell, and it's good to see your ok Aaron," Russell said before he left.

"Did you know him?" Eaton asked.

"Kind of, it's been awhile and I only met him once. I had almost forgotten about him,"Aaron said. "Come on we need to go check on Hiro," with that the two left to go see their captain.

Later that night Aaron was lying on the deck, staring up at the stars. He had been informed about the mission. Unfortunately the island where Captain Steele was last seen was to the south of them, the opposite direction of where Nick was going.

Hiro walked out on the deck and laid down next to Aaron. He laid there without saying anything for a moment before finally saying "If you want to leave, you can,"

"Huh, what are you talking about, why would I want to leave?" Aaron asked.

"I may not be the smartest person in the West Blue, but, I'm not stupid either. That man who attacked us, he was your brother wasn't he," Hiro said quietly .

"Listen Hiro, you're a great friend, probably the best one I've had for a long time, but there are some things that I can't talk about. At least not yet," Aaron said.

"That's fine, because I won't ask you to tell me anything. But, I want you to know that I will help you find him. I don't when we'll get the time to, but, as soon as we can we'll go up north and find him. But, if you want to go look for him now, I won't stand in your way," Hiro said.

"Hiro…thanks," Aaron said softly. "But, if you think you're going to get rid of me that easily, you've got another thing coming," Aaron said grinning.

"Aww, isn't that sweet," Zyd said jokingly as he stood in the door way. Earning glares from Aaron and Hiro.

"So, Hiro, do you feel well enough to beat up Zyd?" Aaron asked standing up.

"Of course, what kind of captain would I be if I let my subordinates smart off to me like that," Hiro said as he stood up and started walking towards Zyd.

"H-hey guys it was just a joke. You know ha ha, come on guys," Zyd said nervously backing up. Then he took of running. "Ahhh, Maia, Eaton help! Aaron and Hiro have gone crazy!"

AN: Well I hope everyone has enjoyed this chapter. I will do a few more chapters for this story, then I will go to my other story. The reason way is that I want then to be caught up chromatically, that way when I do a crossover chapter I can do both at the same time. Speaking of crossover chapters, this one had a brief mention of Russell and his crew. If you want to find out what happened, you'll have to wait until I write it for the other story. Also I will put up a new poll on my profile, please vote because it will determine which order the crossover arcs will be in. The synopsis of the arcs will be on my profile. If it's not up today I will try to get it up tomorrow. Anyway please review and tell me what you think.


	16. A Hiro's History

A Hiro's History

Hiro sighed as he sat on the deck. It would be days before they reached their destination, meanwhile Nick was getting farther and farther away. "Man, I wish I could've done something,"

Are you still beating yourself up over not going after Nick?" Aaron said as he walked by. "You know I chose to come along, you didn't force me to come,"

"I know," Hiro said as he stood up. "But still, I know if a found out my brother was still alive after all this time, I don't think anything would stop me from finding him,"

"Wait a second, Captain. You have a brother?" Aaron asked. "You never mentioned him before. Come to think of it, you never mentioned any of your family,"

"Yeah, well I don't know much about them. All I know is that they died trying to keep me safe," Hiro said looking down sadly.

"Oh, I'm sorry Hiro. I know what it's like to lose your family," Aaron said. But, deep down he knew it was not the same. Hiro had barely known his family; at least Aaron had been able to know his family.

"Do you…do you mind if I tell you what I do know? I just feel like I need to get it off my chest," Hiro said.

"Sure thing Hiro," Aaron said as he sat down next to his friend.

"I was only a baby when it happened. I don't know _what_ happened exactly, except what the marines were able to figure out. My parents lived in a small cabin in the middle of the woods. Pirates had been attacking ports along the island and their ship had been damaged by some marines," Hiro began.

"They sent a small scouting party out first and they came across our home. They figured it would be an easy target and they decided to attack it," Hiro said.

"Did they?" Aaron started to ask, but he couldn't finish.

"No, Captain Ozmont told me that my parents must have been trained fighters because they fought back and only one escaped. He was able to alert the others and they all came down to attack. Lucky for me, there was a man, a shopkeeper, set up at the crossroads near the woods. He heard the commotion and came to help.

He hid me in a small cave near a lake and tried to lure the pirates away from me. In the end all three were killed, but, they took down about a third of the crew," Hiro said.

"How did you survive if your parents and the other man were killed?" Aaron asked.

"I was lucky. Captain Ozmont was not too far behind the pirates. He noticed the ship was empty so he decided to follow them. The pirates weren't stupid though; they snuck around the marines and made it back to the ship. Ozmont found my parents and their friend and then he found me. I was barely a year old so I was really lucky that they found me," Hiro said, although he didn't sound like he felt lucky.

"What happened to the pirates? Did they get away?" Aaron asked. He hoped not, people who butcher innocent civilians and made children into orphans didn't deserve to be free.

"Well it took awhile before anyone would admit it, but, I found out that Ozmont and the others hunted down the pirates and executed them. Before that they had dropped me off at an orphanage, after they were done they came and visited me. They kept visiting me every year, on the day that they rescued me," Hiro said.

"Did your parents leave you anything to remember them by?" Aaron asked.

"No, the only thing they had with them were the clothes on their backs and their swords which were broken during the fight. Although the man who died protecting me had this on him," Hiro said as he handed his pistol to Aaron.

Aaron had never really noticed before, but it was a finely crafted pistol. The handle was made of a black wood and had an intricate golden design. "Shouldn't that have been given to his next of kin?" Aaron asked after he examined the pistol and handed it back to Hiro.

"They couldn't find anyone who knew him. As far as the marines could tell he had no family. But, since he gave his life to save mine they thought I should honor his memory and use it to stop people like those pirates," Hiro explained.

"Wait a second, what about your brother?" Aaron asked.

"Ah, well for a long time I didn't even know I had a brother. It was during one of Captain Ozmont's visits that I overheard him talking about," Hiro said.

_~Eleven years ago~_

_Hiro was walking down a hall in the orphanage. Ozmont and the others had come to visit him today, as they always did on his birthday. Or at least what they called his birthday. Now, however, the sun was setting and the closest thing to a family he had was leaving again. _

_ Not that them leaving bothered him. He knew that they had a job protecting people and he was proud of them. He was afraid though, afraid that they wouldn't come back. After all last year Johnny's brother hadn't come back last year or this year. He was worried that eventually none of them would be left to come back._

_Hiro shook his head to clear those thoughts from it. Before too long he'd be able to go with them, then he'd make sure nothing bad ever happened to any of them. Besides he had to find the captain, he was late, which was odd since he always made sure to be on time. He recalled hearing one of the crew saying they wished Garp was like that, but he had no clue who that was._

_ Hiro stopped when he heard voices behind a door. He realized that one was Captain Ozmont and the other sounded like it was coming from a Transponder Snail. Hiro was about to enter until he heard his name mentioned._

"…_Hiro doesn't need to know that Kaj. It wouldn't do him any good to find out that he had a brother if he was dead too," Ozmont said._

_ "He deserves to know Ozmont. You can't keep this from him," the man named Kaj said._

_ "I only see him once a year and that's on his birthday. How am I supposed to tell him he has a brother who might or might not be dead and not ruin his special day? He's only nine, I can't do that too him," Ozmont said._

_ "Alright, alright, I'll keep looking and I'll call you if I find anything," Kaj said._

_ "Thanks Kaj, by the way I heard you were injured recently…"Ozmont continued to talk, but Hiro left after that. Shocked that he had a brother._

_~Present~_

"So, you never found if he was alive or not?" Aaron asked.

"No, I never even told Ozmont that I knew I had one. Still, I never stopped looking. I couldn't do much with out tipping of the Captain, but I did what I could. I checked orphanage records, looked into slavers in nearby islands, everything I could think of," Hiro said. "But, I never found a single clue,"

Aaron looked over at his captain. He realized that he had lost his family twice. The first he had never known and the second he knew very well. He didn't know which was worse. Aaron stood up looked out across the ocean. "You'll find him,"

"Huh?" Hiro asked as looked over at Aaron.

"I said you'll find him. Just like I'll find Nick and save him from those slavers," Aaron said.

"Aaron thanks. I want you to promise me something," Hiro said. "If I die before I can find my brother I want you to try to find him for me,"

"Alright, but only on one condition. If I die, you'll do the same for me," Aaron said.

"Deal!" Hiro said as they shook hands.

"Wouldn't it make more sense to vow to protect each other instead?" Eaton said startling the pair of friends.

"Gah! Eaton when did you get here!" Hiro asked.

"Sometime after these two," Eaton said pointing to Maia and Zyd.

"That's so sad," Maia said as she wiped her eyes. "Even Zyd's crying"

"I am not!" Zyd said wiping his eyes. "I just have something in my eye,"

"Okay, new rule. No spying on the captain or any other crew member unless I say so," Hiro said.

"Hmm, Sir it appears that there is an island up ahead," Eaton said, noticing something in the distance. "Should we re-supply?"

"Sure, but let's make it quick," Hiro said. The crew then began to get ready to land and purchase new supplies. _I'll find you one day brother. I know I will._

AN: I know it's short, but I think you've all waited long enough. I hope you all liked. Send me some feed back and don't forget to vote! Also to make up for the short chapter, here's a preview for the next one.

"What's going on in there?" Aaron asked listening to the scuffle inside the bar.

All of the sudden a man went flying through the window, shortly followed by another one going through the wall. Another man tried to run out the door, but was stopped by a flying chair to the back of his head.

"I can't believe it," Zyd said.

"I know who could possibly be in there?" Hiro said trying to think of all of the dangerous pirates in the area.

"No, I mean there's a bar fight and I'm not in it!" Zyd yelled as he ran in.

"Well, I guess I should have seen that coming," Hiro said as he and the others followed him in.

Unfortunately, at least for Zyd, the fight was already over. The only person standing was a tall thin man in a business suit who was going through everyone who was unconscious wallets.

He stood up when he realized that there were others in the room. "Oh, someone else wants to fight me eh? Well sorry to keep you waiting. Let's begin!"


	17. The Two Vessels Steel and Lead

The Two Vessels, Steele and Lead!

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. All OCs belong to their creators. In particular Valerie Steele belongs to FanFicAA, Belladonna Shooks belongs to Threedimensional, and Revan belongs to my cousin.

"Well here we are," Hiro said as he looked around at the island. "This is the last known location of Captain Steele,"

"Hiro, I hate to tell you this, but that's not very helpful," Zyd said. The island was not very large, but the city they were in covered most of it.

To their left was a large residential area, crammed with houses and apartments. To their right was a business district. There were shops and restaurants everywhere and down by the dock were several large warehouses, full of goods that needed to be shipped. Everywhere they looked there was some large factory or another.

"Finding one person in all of this is going to be like finding a needle in a haystack," Maia commented.

"Then perhaps we should spilt up. We can meet later at that building over there," Eaton said pointing to a large bar with a sign that read BRAWL! In large letters.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll see you guys in a couple of hours," Aaron said as he walked off towards the warehouses

"Well, I'll see you guys later!" Zyd said as he walked off.

"Take care now," Maia said.

"I will contact you as soon as I find out anything captain," Eaton said.

"Hmmm. I guess I should check out the local authorities, they might know something," Hiro said to himself.

A little while later Hiro found the jail and entered, hoping to find some information on the missing officer. As he entered he noticed that only one cell was occupied. Inside was a short man wearing a shirt and jacket that was made of several bright patches of cloth sewn together. He seemed very angry and was yelling threats at the jailor.

"What's with that guy?" Hiro asked staring at the odd little man.

"Oh, he's just some random pirate," the jailor said, not listening to the prisoner.

"JUST SOME RANDOM PIRATE!" the man in the cell yelled. "I'M CAPTAIN PATCH! AND DON'T FORGET IT!"

"Wow, he has some issues," Hiro said.

"He's been yelling ever since we picked him up last night. He just doesn't stop," the jailor sighed. "Oh, I'm sorry can I help you?"

"Yes, I'm Captain Hiro of the SRF. We're a group of marines who were tasked with finding a missing marine captain. Have you seen her?" Hiro asked handing a photo of Valerie to him.

"Hmm. She looks familiar…wait a second I remember now. She came in here looking for information about a pirate. Hiro-Shu or something like," the man replied.

"What did you tell her?" Hiro asked, glad that he was getting somewhere.

"Well, I told her that I hadn't seen him, but the way she described how he fought reminded me of someone I know. I told her where she could find him, but he had gone away on a business trip. I told her it would be a few days until he got back. I tried to explain that they couldn't be the same person, but she didn't believe me," the man finished.

"So where is she now?" Hiro asked hoping to wrap this case up. If they hurried they would be able to pursue the slavers and maybe save Nick!

"I think she went to go wait at the hotel, it's on the other side of town," the jailor said.

"Thanks for your help!" Hiro said as he ran out the door. He couldn't believe his luck! He knew where Valerie was, now they could bring her back to base and… Hiro suddenly stopped when a thought occurred to him. If Captain Steele was alright, then why hadn't see called to let HQ know where she was? He's was going to have to a chat with the captain when he found her.

As Hiro was walking back to the rendezvous point he heard a commotion come from a nearby alley. Drawing his sword he charged into the alley to see what was happening. When he arrived he was shocked to see several would-be muggers unconscious and a lone woman standing over them. But, what really surprised him was that the woman was none other then Captain Steele. She stood around 5'5 and had long blond hair pulled into a ponytail and sea blue eyes. She also wore a standard marine captain outfit.

"Hmm, don't tell me there are more of you?" Valerie said turning to face him.

"Huh, no I'm Hiro of the SRF. I was ordered to find you," Hiro explained. "And now that I've found you I've got a few questions for you. First of all why did you disappear, everyone thought you were captured or killed. You've caused a lot of trouble back at base,"

"I'm sorry, but I had to find someone. I heard rumors that he might be here so I had to investigate," Valerie said.

Before they could continue they heard screams coming from the direction of the bar. They raced over to see what was happening, running into the rest of Hiro's crew who had also heard the commotion.

"What's going on in there?" Aaron asked listening to the scuffle inside the bar.

All of the sudden a man went flying through the window, shortly followed by another one going through the wall. Another man tried to run out the door, but was stopped by a flying chair to the back of his head.

"I can't believe it," Zyd said.

"I know who could possibly be in there?" Hiro said trying to think of all of the dangerous pirates in the area.

"No, I mean there's a bar fight and I'm not in it!" Zyd yelled as he ran in.

"Well, I guess I should have seen that coming," Hiro said as he and the others followed him in.

Unfortunately, at least for Zyd, the fight was already over. The only person standing was a tall thin man in a business suit who was going through everyone who was unconscious wallets.

He stood up when he realized that there were others in the room. "Oh, someone else wants to fight me eh? Well sorry to keep you waiting. Let's begin!" He said as he charged at the group.

"Alright!" Zyd yelled. "Havoc Strike!" Zyd jumped towards the man and landed a powerful kick on him.

Surprisingly the man barley seemed to notice the blow and countered by punching him in the stomach. The blow knocked Zyd backed, but he recovered and charged forward again.

Meanwhile back at the jail an unexpected visitor arrived to see Patch. She was an attractive woman, not beautiful, but prettier than most. She wore tight fitting black pants, a red top that showed part of her chest, polished black boots, several rings and a necklace with a sapphire on it. Her brown hair was tied in a bun and her green eyes had a calm look to them.

"Patch, I thought I asked you to do me a simple favor. All you had to do was plant the explosives next to the building with the X on it," the woman said.

"I tried Belladonna! But, I couldn't find it!" Patch yelled, before he quickly clamped his hands over his mouth. Hoping he hadn't alerted the guard.

"Don't worry, he can't hear us. I can control sound remember?" Belladonna asked. "And as for you not being able to find the target, did you check the building with the big red X painted on the roof?"

"What, but, there wasn't…I mean I didn't…HOW COULD I HAVE MISSED IT!" Patch yelled. Grateful for the fact that the guard couldn't hear him.

"That's what I'd like to know?" Belladonna said. "Anyway, I'm going to let you out. But, in return I want you to do me a favor,"

"Sure, what do you need?" Patch asked. Eager to make up for his previous mistake.

"There is a group of marines here. They're supposed to be elites and I don't won't any trouble with them, I want you to distract them while I leave," Belladonna said.

"You're going to run away? But, what about the job and with your powers you could take anyone," Patch said.

"Yeah, but they might have sea stone with them. I don't plan on getting caught anytime soon," Belladonna said. "Look, I'm not asking you to sacrifice yourself for me; I just want you to distract them for a bit. After that you can leave or do whatever you want,"

"Alright Belladonna, you've got a deal!" Patch said.

Back at the bar Zyd and the mysterious man were still fighting, although Zyd's attacks seemed to do little against the stranger.

"Sahahahahahah, you're a good fighter!" the man said. "No one has ever lasted this long against Revan De Ville. I'll tell you what, since you're such a good fighter I'll use one of my special attacks top defeat you! Here I go Skull Smash!" Revan jumped up into the air and brought his fist down on Zyd's head, knocking him unconscious.

"Well, who's next?" Revan asked the group.

"Uh, we didn't come here to fight you," Hiro admitted.

"Huh, but, I thought everyone wanted to fight the famous Lead Golem to see if they could beat," Revan said, sounding disappointed.

"Wait a second. Lead Golem?" Valerie asked. "He really _is _the wrong guy,"

"Oh, were you looking for that Iron Golem fellow?" Revan asked as he set a stool up and sat down on it.

"You know him!" Valerie asked, surprised.

"Yes, about a moth ago…" Revan began, but was cut by a loud explosion. Everyone raced outside (except for Zyd who was unconscious and Maia who was treating his wounds) to see that Patch had escaped and was setting off explosives around the city. "Perhaps I will explain after we deal with this man," Revan said as he charged at Patch.

Patch saw he approach and opened fire at him with two pistols. However, Revan smirked and covered his body with a thick lead armor. He moved slower, but the bullets had no effect on him.

"Whoa, was that some kind of Devil Fruit?" Aaron asked.

"No," replied Valerie, "that is the power of a vessel,"

"A vessel?" Aaron asked.

"Someone who's body is inhabited by another spirit. In his case it appears to be a lead golem, in my case it is a steel Valkyrie," Valerie said.

"Wait you can do that too?" Aaron asked.

"What I do is similar, but I focus less on armor and more on speed. Perhaps I should give you a demonstration," Valerie said as a group of Patch's pirates charged at them.

Valerie charged at the group and yelled "Heel of Steel! Valkyrie's Lance," her right leg became incased in steel and she kicked the first pirate to reach her, knocking him back into the group. Before they could get up Eaton and Aaron opened fire on them, making sure they did not get back up.

"Captain," Eaton said. "Perhaps you should check on Revan,"

"The guy's a vessel I don't think some average pirate captain is going to give him any problems," Hiro said.

"It is not him I worried about, it is the pirate. Revan might go too far in the fight wit him," Eaton explained.

"Hmm. You've got a point. I want to know how he got loose," Hiro said and he ran off to find Revan and Patch.

By the time Hiro arrived, Patch was losing badly. He had fired all of his bullets, but none of them affected the lead cased warrior. Revan had now forgone his metal armor for his natural, lighter form. He jumped at Patch and kicked him into the side of a building, he was about to continue his assault, but was stopped by Hiro.

"That's enough Revan. I'd like to be able to interrogate him, while he's still breathing," Hiro explained.

"This pirate dog comes to my and starts blowing buildings and you want me to leave him alone?" Revan asked.

"I didn't say that. I just want to know how he got out of his cell," Hiro said.

"Hmm. Alright, but, I get to keep whatever money he has on him," Revan said.

"Uh, okay," Hiro said, not really sure if the pirate would even having anything on him.

Before Hiro could move to interrogate the beaten pirate, something landed at his feet. He looked down and realized that is was a bomb. Acting quickly he pushed Revan back and attempted to jump out of the blast radius, however, he wasn't quick enough and was caught in the explosion and thrown against a building.

"Trahahahahahah!" Patch laughed. "That's what you get for messing with the great Captain Patch!"

He stopped laughing, however, when he saw Revan get up and check on Hiro. "You know, most people only think of themselves. I'll admit I'm one of them most of the time. But, when it comes to helping my friends I always watch their backs. And when you risk your life to protect me, even when I would have been mostly unharmed tat makes you my friend," Revan said. "And when people mess with my friends that get their skulls smashed!"

Revan charged straight at Patch who was now terrified by the angry mercenary. "Merc's Mercy!" Revan yelled. He delivered a quick punch to Patch's stomach and then gave him a kick that knocked him in the air. He jumped up after him and began to throw punches at the hapless pirate with lightning fast speed. He finished an assault by clasping his hands together and bringing them down on Patch's head.

The pirate crumpled to the ground as Revan landed cracking the ground slightly. Hiro slowly sat up and Revan approached him. "Are you all right?" Hiro asked.

"Sahahahaha! I should be asking you that. You do realize that the blast wouldn't have done much to me right?" Revan asked.

"I guess it was just reflex," Hiro said, slightly embarrassed that heroic efforts were not necessary.

"That is a dangerous reflex to have. But, it is still a nice one to have," Revan said.

"Well, it looks like I won't be able to interrogate him anytime soon," Hiro said looking at Patch's unconscious form. "Let's go check on the others,"

The others had faired rather well, Zyd had even woken up to join in the fray towards the end and Maia was helping the civilians who had been injured. Valerie approached Revan and asked "So, can you please tell me what you know about Hiro-Shu now?"

"Of course. Sit down and I will tell you all about my dual with the legendary Iron Golem," Revan said.

AN: Well another chapter down. I hope everyone has enjoyed this. I would like to apologize to everyone who has submitted an OC and they have not appeared yet. _They will appear_ but it might take a while for me to introduce them. So thank you for your patience. The next chapter for A Pirate's Life For Me will hopefully be up soon, but I can't promise when. Please review and vote on my poll!


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